Royal Mail Tells Union: Door Still Open To Sign Agreement

22/10/2009

Royal Mail said today that its door is still open to sign the agreement negotiated with the Communication Workers Union on Tuesday night.

The company condemned as reckless and unjustified the CWU’s decision to go ahead with strike action today and tomorrow despite Royal Mail’s willingness to sign an agreement, negotiated with the CWU on Tuesday, that would avert this week’s strikes, ensure no further strikes until the end of the year - and give both parties a period of calm for further talks and give customers the service they deserve between now and Christmas.

Mark Higson, Royal Mail Managing Director, said it was totally outrageous for the CWU to accuse the company of reneging on a deal when it was the union that had walked away. He repeated his offer to meet the union at any time to sign the words agreed by the CWU on Tuesday night which Royal Mail had expected to be rubber stamped by the union’s National Executive yesterday.

"It’s now clear that the union leaders who were in the negotiations could not get the support of their own executive. It would seem that their negotiating team led by Dave Ward has not been able to get their National Executive to approve the words that we agreed with the union on Tuesday. My door is open and my phone is on and I am urging them again today to meet me so that we can all sign that agreement, get the strikes stopped and give us some peace in which we can get on with delivering Christmas for our customers.

"We have an agreement that was reached on Tuesday night and we had an agreement in 2007 - the real issue is not about getting agreements, it’s about the CWU leadership’s ability to deliver and honour them."

A copy of Tuesday’s agreement is attached.

Royal Mail said that deliveries are taking place across the country as normal today. The Post Office branch network and the Crown Post Offices are unaffected by the CWU’s strikes and are open and working as normal.


Ends

Issued by Royal Mail:
100 Victoria Embankment
LONDON
EC4Y 0HQ


DRAFT AGREEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL & CWU ON THE FRAMEWORK FOR DELIVERING THE NEXT STEPS OF TRANSFORMATION IN LINE WITH PHASE 4 OF THE 2007 PAY & MODERNISATION AGREEMENT

COMMITMENTS

Royal Mail and CWU agree that aligning the interests of customers, employees and the company as a whole is a prerequisite for the successful modernisation of Royal Mail. Royal Mail and CWU share a common understanding of the scale and nature of the challenges facing the business and a determination to address these challenges in a way that secures a successful future.

Royal Mail and CWU have reached agreement on the following:

• To immediately restore customer confidence by ending all current National and local disputes

• To accelerate, and complete the modernisation programme, jointly resolving all outstanding issues from phase 4 of Pay and Modernisation Agreement 2007 by agreeing key principles and milestones and reaching further National Agreements.

• To re-engage in the Industrial Relations framework as the means of achieving local change through agreement.


2. RESOLUTION TO THE CURRENT DISPUTES

Both Royal Mail and CWU agree that by far the best way to introduce change successfully is by agreement.
The following principles apply:

Relevant senior operational managers and relevant area level representatives will meet as soon as possible after the signing of this agreement to clarify where in the IR framework each change proposal has reached and begin to oversee the process of re-engagement at the appropriate level.

2.1 In all offices where change has been implemented in 2009 the local parties will undertake a review. In offices where change has been implemented without agreement the local parties will engage in genuine negotiations to reach local agreement. In reviewing the current position the mutual objective will be to identify improvements in line with the full range of principles of the Pay and Modernisation Agreement 2007. Specifically the local parties must address/resolve the following range of issues:
• Overall job numbers and resourcing mix based on a fair and transparent level of workload, working safely and utilising all paid for hours
• Maintenance of reasonable earnings opportunities
• Improve efficiency
• Family friendly and innovative duty patterns. (Agreements may include less than 5 day attendances where consistent with effective workload alignment)
• The need for duty resigns/ job allocation in line with existing national agreements ie Way Forward and MTSF
• Need to meet service specification
• Ensure employees feel motivated and valued

2.2 Other people issues arising out of such changes, including any opportunity to offer voluntary redundancy, any reduction in pay or allowances or potential office transfer will be addressed in line with the Managing the Surplus Framework agreement

2.3 Both parties are committed to beginning the process of restoring and improving relationships at all levels. With this in mind it is important that there is no victimisation or settling of scores arising out of the dispute, and both parties will work to ensure that any issues are settled in a mature and professional way.

3. Statement of Intent for National Agreement
Royal Mail and CWU have reached agreement to accelerate and complete the modernisation programme by jointly resolving all outstanding issues from phase 4 of Pay and Modernisation Agreement 2007.
To facilitate a phase 4 resolution all the following key principles are interdependent and will be developed together to form part of the final agreement.
• Improved job security arrangements - providing sustainable jobs, maintaining a predominately fulltime workforce, and an appropriate fulltime/part-time mix.
• A new and improved reward and benefits package - encompassing a full review of pay/earnings, working hours, attendance patterns and family friendly policies
• Fair workload based on objective and transparent standards
• Improved relationships - a new and completely fresh approach that will bring about a radically different culture.
• Delivery of the transformation plan - commitment to the scale and the pace of change needed to deliver the modernisation of Royal Mail at both National and Local level.
• Mail Centre Rationalisation Framework - that includes how we jointly consult and share at National level the ongoing strategies to provide the future optimal Mail Centre Network that is fit for purpose, establishes a process for consultation and negotiation at local level and takes into account the impact on employees from the rationalisation.
• Both parties commit to reaching agreement on a framework for dealing with future transformational change, relationships and the working environment in both Network Distribution and RDC, also to meet strategically to develop a progressive agenda where Logistics can play a pivotal role in the growth of new products and services in the Business
• A national agreement on delivery that will cover the major issues facing the function and creates a platform to modernise and transform.
• Customer service continuity -a commitment to deploying change and resolving disagreement without service disruption.

Timescales and Milestones
Both parties commit to reach agreement on all of the areas outlined in paragraph above by December 2009 for implementation in January 2010. To facilitate this the following actions will be put in place:
• There will be no further change implemented without agreement and no strike action during 2009.
• Both parties will commit to a minimum of 4 full days of negotiations per week until agreement is reached.
• Ensure the appropriate level of resource is allocated to deliver an agreement by December 2009.


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