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For week ending 28th June, 2008
Three local newsletters for you to download...
CWU general secretary Billy Hayes has welcomed the launch of the Equalities Bill by Equalities Minister Harriet Harman in Westminster today.
This Bill contains proposals to outlaw discrimination against older people and to strengthen anti-discrimination legislation for women, black and ethnic minority people and workers who face prejudice because of their sexuality or a disability.
Along with other unions, the CWU has lobbied government to strengthen the law to prevent employers getting away with treating people unfairly.
There are also key proposals in the Bill to deal with the pay gap between men and women though it stops short of making employers run comprehensive pay audits, a longstanding union demand.
Welcoming the proposed new laws, Billy said: “The proposals in this Bill will go some way to helping us deal with the discrimination at work and in wider society many of our members face on a daily basis."
The Bill, if passed into law, will give new legal protection to public-sector workers, through an obligation on public-sector employers to promote equality.
And the CWU is determined to fight to ensure that this provision is extended to workers in the private sector too.
"Our members deserve equal treatment whether they work in the public or private sectors," Billy Hayes insisted.
National Agreement on the Implementation of a Major Duty Rescheduling Programme in Crown Offices, below is a joint statement regarding the temporary phase of the programme and, specifically, surplus hours.
Joint Statement – Surplus Hours in Crown Office
A major duty rescheduling programme is being carried out jointly by POL and the CWU in all Crown Offices, details of which were cascaded during the WTL session on 11 March 2008.
The temporary phase of this programme is now under way and as a consequence a number of offices have seen a reduction in their template. However, no resource is actually being removed until a full review of the workload is carried out three to four months after implementation of the temporary duties. As a result some offices will be carrying surplus hours against their revised template.
For this temporary stage of the programme two key principles must apply in dealing with the surplus hours:
No individual will be declared supernumerary, it is the hours that are surplus
All staff will have a planned attendance pattern with a minimum of 4 weeks notice of changes.
If a branch is carrying surplus hours during the temporary stage the following scenarios should apply:
If a reduction of 35 hours is required so a full time duty has been withdrawn from the full time rotation.
Until the result of the review is known a “temporary” full time duty is created to follow an equivalent duty in the scheduled duty pattern and forming part of the rotation.
If a fixed part time duty is withdrawn from the Authorised Working Duties.
The person who worked this duty will continue to follow the same duty pattern or will follow an agreed alternative fixed duty.
A part time duty which currently rotates is removed, leaving the remaining part time duties either rotating or now fixed. The person who worked this duty will continue to follow the same duty pattern and either rotate where the part time rotation continues or will follow an agreed fixed duty if the part time duties are now fixed.
Where there is no clear fit e.g. 7 hours surplus which cannot be accommodated within the staffing profile then these will be offset against sick absence and overtime, taking due regard of the principles above.
Due to the financial challenges facing the Crown Office network, surplus hours will need to be carefully managed within a branch and across an area, offsetting sick absence, maternity leave, annual leave and overtime.
In some cases there will be a need for colleagues to work outside of their parent branch on a temporary basis, the joint working group will work closely with Crown Area Managers and section secretaries to resolve these moves locally using business as usual principles.
Once the output of the review is known then permanent duty solutions will be developed and implemented to ensure that resource matches template. This further review will give us the chance to fully understand and account for the impact of agency branch closure migration.
Any issues emanating from the application of the above principles and proposed solutions will be referred to the joint POL/CWU implementation teams for resolution.
We acknowledge there will be challenges to meet during this review programme and we appreciate in advance your ongoing support and cooperation.
Richard Barker Andy Furey Director of Sales Assistant Secretary Post Office Ltd CWU
The above joint statement continues to demonstrate the benefit of our involvement in this programme. The national agreement enables our representatives to take part in the construction and implementation of new duties. This approach allows the Union to significantly influence the development of duties at an embryonic stage. Thereafter, a joint review is planned to examine results of the temporary duties with a view to establishing permanent arrangements.
The work being undertaken by our representatives is extremely complex and challenging. Accordingly, I would like to thank Territorial Counters Chairs (TCCs), John Batt, Nancy Callaghan, Mole Meade, Lynn Simpson and Dave Smith, for their endeavours.
For week ending 21st June, 2008
ILL HEALTH RETRIEMENT – COMPROMISE AGREEMENT
Nationally, we are in negotiations with Royal Mail to ensure that the Ill Health Retirement Agreement is brought in line with the Age Legislation.
The business has accepted that the current procedure is not age compliant and that it will be changed to take into account any employees over the age of 60.
Negotiations are at the final stage and it is hopeful that a settlement can be reached in the near future.
However in the meantime, we are continuing to advise that any member over the age of 60 - who are offered pay in lieu of notice (PILON) for Ill Health Retirement that they should continue to seek an application from an Employment Tribunal based on age discrimination.
We understand that in certain areas management are adopting 2 different approaches. The first one is to allow the tribunal to progress, in these cases our Legal Department are supporting all cases sent to them.
The second method is to offer a lump sum payment and then asking our members to sign a Compromise Agreement.
Our advice at present is if the financial package is sufficient then you can inform management that the settlement on offer is acceptable, but under no circumstances should any of our members sign the Compromise Agreement.
Following legal advice received, we have informed the business that there are Sections of the Compromise Agreement that need addressing and require urgent discussions.
Once discussions have been brought to a satisfactory conclusion it would be our intention to publish the Compromise Agreement so that every one is fully aware of its content.
CHANGES TO DEATH IN SERVICE BENEFITS
Death in service benefits for Section C members of the Pension Scheme have been improved and death in service payments for non Pension Scheme members have been introduced.
Royal Mail Pension Scheme: Section C Members
Hitherto, Section C members of the Pension Scheme (i.e. those joining the scheme after 1987) have received a death in service benefit based on 3 times annual pensionable pay. The level of death in service benefit has now been harmonised between Section C and Section B of the Scheme with the result that Section C members beneficiaries will now receive 4 times pensionable pay in the event of death in service.
Non Scheme Members
Royal Mail has advised the Union that life assurance cover has been put in place for non-scheme members, which will provide a lump sum death in service benefit of 2 times annual basic pay. An individual letter to non-scheme members will be sent by the business together with a leaflet of frequently asked questions explaining the changes and benefits. |
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