Woody Guthrie wrote: ↑01 Sep 2023, 15:57
Joint Communication Covering The National Rollout Of Seasonal Variation 4th September 2023:
Branches, Representatives, and members will recall that a number of LTBs (Letter To Branches) have recently been issued in terms of moving forward the commitments contained in the Business Transformation, Recovery and Growth Agreement in relation to Appendix 1, Seasonal Variation, the most recent being LTB 213/23 issued on 21st August.
However, you will also be aware that over the course of last week, there had been widespread speculation that the planned changes under Seasonal Variation as outlined in these LTBs would be delayed until October and limited to 9 weeks.
To be clear, this speculation was started by Royal Mail who did initiate an approach to the CWU on possible options to delay the development of Seasonal Variation due to some concerns in regard to forecasted traffic levels over the next few weeks. However, following further talks, Royal Mail has moved away from this consideration as it has now been highlighted that any changes in the commencement date of Seasonal Variation at such short notice will generate a number of systems issues that in turn could impact on the accuracy of employee’s basic pay.
However, during this period of discussions both parties have agreed to a Joint Communication which reaffirms a number of key aspects of Seasonal Variation.
Clearly, this period of ongoing conjecture has not been a helpful development nor has the delay in issuing this Joint Communication. However, it is now hoped that this further clarification will end any remaining confusion in this regard, alongside reaffirming the wider aims and aspects of Seasonal Variation.
Any issues arising from the local application of Seasonal Variation should be raised via the IR Framework and any questions on the interpretation or application of the arrangements should be fast-tracked to the relevant ROD/CWU Divisional Reps as necessary.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Baulch
Assistant Secretary
……
JOINT STATEMENT
This Joint Communication has been issued to confirm that the planned move over to the Seasonal Variation as set out in the RMG/CWU Business Recovery, Transformation and Growth Agreement, Appendix 1, will take place as previously outlined and reported.
From Monday 4th September to Sunday 17th December 2023. Full-timers (including 35-hour contracts) will see a 24 minutes per day variation increase applied before their start time. Part-timers will see a 10 minutes variation before their start time.
From Monday 18th December 2023 to Sunday 26th May 2024. Full-timers and part-timers will work their normal hours.
From Monday 27th May 2024 to Sunday 8th September 2024. Full-timers will see a 24 minutes per day variation decrease (starting 14 minutes later and finishing 10 minutes earlier). Part-timers will work 10 minutes less per day, finishing 10 minutes earlier.
In setting out this Joint Communication, it can be confirmed that Royal Mail did initiate an approach to the CWU on the option to delay the deployment of seasonal variation due to some concerns regarding forecasted traffic levels. However, following further talks, Royal Mail has since moved away from this consideration as it has now been highlighted that any changes in the commencement date at such short notice will generate a number of systems issues which could have impacted individuals pay.
Royal Mail and the CWU have agreed an approach which supports the need for Royal Mail to be more flexible in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The approach will also support the Universal Service Obligation and ability to meet quality of service targets against varying levels of workload over the seasons of the year. The approach is based on a mutual interest approach and will aim to maintain job security and secure terms and conditions for employees. Seasonal variation aims to better align scheduled hours in different blocks of the year to the typical workload in those periods. In doing so it also aims to: -
• Improve productivity and efficiency and USO/services standards for customers and ensuring all workload is cleared including door to door.
• Reduce the need for outdoor lapsing and absorption which is unpopular for employees.
• Provide more consistency of delivery time for Estimated Delivery Windows for customers.
• We agree that employees’ weekly hours will be adjusted up and down by a fixed amount for a block of weeks and their start and finish times will vary slightly depending on seasonal peaks and troughs of work.
A further aim of the introduction of the seasonal hour’s approach is to maximise consistency of duty cover, which helps with familiarity for frontline OPG’s and consistency for customers and so the core of work through different seasons is intended to be the indoor and outdoor work related to the listed duty walk-holders. There may be instances where there is a gap between supply of hours which needs to be filled with productive work, and it is the aim to do this from additional work added to the core duty rather than reallocating people to alternative duties with more workload.
The initial design for Year 1 will be jointly reviewed to capture lessons learned, taking feedback with the aim of improving the approach.
The introduction of Seasonal Variation will also focus on the commitments outlined within the National Joint Statement on improving Quality of Service & USO Compliance: -
• Deliver Section 2.5 of the BRT&G Agreement, which committed Royal Mail and the CWU to urgently improve and restore Quality of Service for all products, including achievement of our USO obligations;
• To reduce the reliance on agency workers whilst meeting productivity targets.
To deliver the aims and opportunities set out above, it is critical that local managers and CWU reps work jointly to maximise the value of these additional hours during the High Season via the Weekly Resourcing Meetings.
Both Parties recognise that there are a number of other matters which are still under discussion nationally, for example, the approach for Delivery Revisions and these will be jointly progressed and communicated.
Royal Mail and the CWU also confirm that all other aspects of Seasonal Variation remain fully in place.
Any issues arising from this Joint Communication should be raised to the signatories for resolution
Francis Williams Commercial & Field Programme Director
Mark Baulch
Assistant Secretary
, the union are f***ing clueless .