CWU & Royal Mail – Forward Agenda
Please find attached (shown below) for your information a joint communication agreed between the DGS(P) and Sue Whalley following the 2 day talks between Postal Officers and Royal Mail Managers in Bournemouth on 14th/15th April.
The original intention was to publish the joint communication soon after the talks but this was delayed as a result of the CWU’s Annual Conference and Terry’s unfortunate recent illness.
Colleagues will note that the Statement reaffirms Royal Mail’s commitment to our agreements, the key principles of Agenda for Growth and their consistent deployment. It also includes important commitments from the business to address the four key strands from the CWU Policy Forum in March (around implementing our current agreements, future change, pay and pensions) as well as “delivering the 6 day USO for years to come”. The discussion on this Forward Agenda will now be conducted through the Parallel Ops Executive.
While the Forward Agenda aims to provide added high-level commitment to continued joint working, the Union recognises that there are still significant challenges and problems that we need to address with the business. We therefore continue to talk to Royal Mail about finalising a new resourcing statement that will provide greater ‘buy in’ from Senior Operational Managers that ensure our resourcing agreements and principles are properly applied in the field and factor in the key resourcing issues and policies agreed by the Union at the Policy Forum and Annual Conference.
Yours Sincerely,
Ray Ellis Andy Furey
Acting Deputy General Secretary (Postal) Assistant Secretary
Mark Baulch Davie Robertson
A/Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary
Carl Maden
A/Assistant Secretary
Joint Communication Royal Mail and CWU - Development of a Forward Agenda.
Further to recent talks to develop joint strategic principles and the CWU Policy Forum, both parties met to reflect and re-engage in the spirit of the BT2010 and Agenda for Growth Agreements after a difficult few months where the joint focus of both parties on the strategic direction, the mutual interest culture, competition and regulation had drifted due to difficult internal challenges for both Royal Mail and CWU.
Over the two days both parties explored the development of key strategic principles and how we can build up a mutual interest vision for the future so our people can also understand the benefits and rationale for change, and work together on how we make our great company the provider of choice in the UK whilst respecting our heritage and delivering the 6 day USO for years to come.
Both Royal Mail and CWU have developed their thinking around how we should move forward. Now it is time for both parties to consider in detail each other’s views and approaches and find a mutually beneficial way forward. The depth of analysis undertaken makes it far easier for all parties to fully understand each other’s views and perspectives going forward.
We took the opportunity to consider the CWU Policy Forum decisions and the business’s perspective on the future. These were never going to be straightforward discussions due to the differing views and sense of priorities, with both parties passionate about the business and our people and having their own views on the best way forward.
Both parties re-affirmed their commitment to our agreements and the principles laid out in the Agenda for Growth and are totally committed to ensuring that they are deployed consistently. Equally both parties expressed major concerns that focus had been lost on developing the mutual interest culture in the workplace and that we must focus on that as part of our forward agenda.
Against that backdrop we have agreed to continue to develop our forward agenda and reach agreements on the many aspects of strategy going forward. Very importantly both parties saw this as an excellent opportunity to renew our commitment to each other and the future success and prosperity of the business and its employees.
We are clear that for all of us the best possible way forward is to continue to develop ideas, agreements and proposals together, at pace, to ensure we have a joint vision for the business that is mutually deliverable.
We have a number of specific actions arising from the two days which we will communicate further as detail is developed, however it is fair to say the four key strands from the CWU Policy Forum and the decisions taken are being addressed, as are the concerns of the business for change at pace and the wish for the business to be one that we can all be proud of and which is fit for the future.
Sue Whalley Terry Pullinger
Chief Operations Officer Deputy General Secretary (Postal)
Royal Mail Communications Workers Union
Date: May 2016
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