POST OFFICE: CROWN PAY AGREEMENT – BALLOT TIMETABLE

[TrueBlueTerrier]

No: 325/14
Ref: 101
Date: 15th May 2014

TO: ALL BRANCHES WITH POSTAL MEMBERS


Dear Colleague

POST OFFICE: CROWN PAY AGREEMENT – BALLOT TIMETABLE

Branches are advised that a ballot timetable has now been set that will allow for all arrears of pay and the associated lump sums to be paid with the June salaries. The Post Office has confirmed that they can ensure this in the event of a yes vote in the forthcoming ballot.

The ballot timetable is as follows:

Despatch of ballot papers : Friday 23rd May

Ballot closes and declaration of result : Monday 9th June

Membership Meetings

Should Branches wish to call membership meetings to discuss the details of the pay agreement, members of the Postal Executive and in particular, members of the negotiating team, would be very happy to attend in order to give an insight into the complex negotiations and the agreed outcome. Additionally, where necessary, our Territorial Representatives, who have been fully briefed on the detail of the pay agreement, will also be able to assist Branches who decide to hold membership meetings.

Branches who require the assistant of a Postal Executive member should contact Lorna Pearson on lpearson@cwu.org or on 0208 971 7484.

Questions and Answers - Q & As.

In conjunction with the Post Office we are currently working up a comprehensive set of Q & As for publication. The agreed plan is for the Post Office to send the Q & As to members’ home addresses to arrive prior to the ballot paper. These Q & As will be jointly communicated in order to ensure clarity where needed. This approach will ensure consistency and will help to avoid conflicting or confused messages.

This is necessary as there are many different components to a very complex pay agreement and we want to ensure all members fully understand the benefits within the agreement as well as the additional savings and financial performance required by the Crown Network to trigger additional consolidated pay rises as well as lump sums over the course of this financial year.

Pension - Next Steps

Initially we had hoped that negotiations surrounding pensions - both the Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution schemes - would have been concluded so that arrangements could have been made to conduct two ballots (pay and pensions) simultaneously. Branches will understand this was how the agreements with Royal Mail were endorsed earlier this year. Unfortunately, whilst good progress has recently been made in this important area we are not yet in a position to follow the Royal Mail approach as more work and discussion is required to arrive at an agreement that is broadly comparable to the Royal Mail agreement.

These discussions include both the Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution schemes and the outcome will impact upon both Admin/Supply Chain members in the Post Office as well as Crown members.

Further developments will be reported at the earliest opportunity.


Yours sincerely


Andy Furey Dave Ward
Assistant Secretary Deputy General Secretary (P)