POL section report.26th January 10
CWU Eastern No.4 Branch Committee Meeting.
01/10 Membership. Currently stands at 301 members, down 7 from last report after checking transfer of members from Eastern No.3, and members leaving the business.
02/10 Attendance/Conduct. I represented a member at a conduct interview charged with gross misconduct. After the interview the member tendered his resignation without notice which the manager accepted.
03/10 Duties. The upskilling of retail workers last year has enabled the long term aim of integrating postshop, or remote working location duties into a just one set of duties for an office. This has been happening under the third phase of the permanent duty revision programme, which is finally coming to a close, although issues still remain due to the cost cutting exercise which is taking precedence over everything, to make as many savings as possible to achieve the end of year target.
04/10 Single Manager Office agreement. With the demise of the Assistant Branch Manager at 146 Crown Offices an agreement was needed to backfill the managers’ position when they are away from the office. This has been secured with an hourly allowance where cover is made in excess of 3.5 hours managers’ absence. The agreement is available on the branch website
05/10 Postbank. The Postbank campaign has been focussed with an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons asking for support for a wholly owned government bank to be run by the Post Office. The EDM 344 has currently attracted 144 signatures. These signatures are mostly from Labour and Lib Dem MP’s. Pressure now needs to be put on MP’s who haven’t signed to commit to supporting the motion, and a circular will be sent asking CWU members to email their MPs to support the EDM.
06/10 Severe Weather Policy. Many enquiries over losing pay or banked time during the snowy conditions, led to the POL policy being distributed to members via email. This policy states that reasonable efforts should be made to get to work, which can be interpreted differently by different people. If CWU members feel that pay or banked hours have been unfairly stopped by management, then representation can be made using the grievance procedure.
Another consequence of the freezing conditions was the temperature in Crown Offices falling below the legal minimum of 16ºC. Good Branch Managers tried to address the problems as best they could with extra breaks, hot drinks, portable heaters, and in the extreme closing the Office to allow it to heat up to above the legal minimum. CWU members should know thatin the UK, the relevant legislation is section 6 of the Offices Shops & Railway Premises Act 1963. The appropriate bits say -
"(2) Where a substantial proportion of the work done in a room to which the foregoing subsection applies does not involve severe physical effort, a temperature of less than 16 degrees Celsius (61F) shall not be deemed, after the first hour, to be a reasonable temperature while work is going on.
This does not mean that staff can go home, although a manager’s discretion may make this a choice.
The final word on this subject is the duty of the employer to provide an accurate readable thermometer in an office. If there isn’t one it’s breaking the law!
07/10 Sales Incentive Scheme (SIS) Only one office (Cambridge) managed to hit the 100% bracket in Quarter 3 of the bonus scheme. 18 offices, of 27, received no bonus at all. The whole SIS is sliding into disrepute, and a re-launch is planned to reinvigorate performance for Q4, and the next financial year, as this is an important strand to bring the business back to target for its 5 year plan.
Arndale CO. Permanent duty review imminent.
Banbury CO.Duty review in progress
Bishops Stortford CO.No reported problems.
Boston CO.Severe problems with freezing weather.
Bury St. Edmunds CO.A visit is due to this office.
CambridgeCO. Permanent duties done.
Castle Mall CO. Permanent duties done.
Crown Walk CO. No reported problems.
DerehamCO. A visit is due to this office.
DissCO. A visit is due to this office.
DunmowCO. No reported problems.
FelixstoweCO. A visit to this office is due.
HarlowCO. Permanent duties done.
HaverhillCO. No reported problems.
Leighton Buzzard CO. Permanent duties done.
LowestoftCO. A long term sick member has returned to work.
NewmarketCO. Member on long term sick absence has been offered ill health retirement.
North Walsham CO. A visit to this office is due.
OxfordCO. A slight revision of a member’s duty is under negotiation with the BM.
PeterboroughCO. No reported problems.
StamfordCO.No reported problems.
Stevenage CO.Permanent duties done.
SudburyCO. A member selected for the HOL project was stopped from going by the CAM due to operational need.
Thetford CO.Ongoing issues including Family Friendly duties, long term sick absences, abeyance of transfer of staff to Bury St. Edmunds.
Tower Ramparts CO. Member on long term sick has returned to rehab duty.
Wisbech CO. Long term sick (LTS) absence causing staffing problems, although pleased to say one LTS has returned on rehab duty.
WitneyCO. No reported problems.
Tim Pavelin.
Section Secretary.
Mob: 07773640595
e-mail: CWU Eastern No.4 website: