LTB 264/16 Post Office: Emergency Motion E3 - Future Vision of The Post Office

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LTB 264/16 Post Office: Emergency Motion E3 - Future Vision of The Post Office

No. 264/2016

29th April 2016

POST OFFICE: EMERGENCY MOTION E3 – FUTURE VISION OF THE POST OFFICE

Dear Colleagues

Branches will be aware of the many serious issues facing our members working for the Post Office. These include the following:

Pensions – Post Office proposal to close the DB pension scheme
Crown Office Network – Post Office franchising/closure programme
Crown Office pay
Major challenges facing Supply Chain (refer to LTB 247 dated 19th April)
As a consequence of the above, an Emergency Motion was submitted by the Postal Executive to our Annual Conference to establish policy to create a vision for the future of the Post Office. Coupled with this was the key objective of negotiating an "Overarching Agreement" to cover these major issues.

Emergency Motion E3 was heard at our Postal Industry conference on Tuesday 26th April. A strong and emotive debate ensued and the motion was passed unanimously. I therefore wrote to Paula Vennells, Chief Executive, on Wednesday 27th April urging her to:

“authorise your senior team to enter into exploratory talks with the shared aim of reaching a holistic agreement covering all matters raised in the Emergency Motion”.

My letter to Paula Vennells, which contains Emergency Motion E3, is attached to this LTB for your information.

I trust Ms Vennells agrees it is in the interest of both parties to immediately begin negotiations to secure an agreement which incorporates a “Vision” for growth, whilst providing a long-term future for the Post Office and its hard working loyal employees.

Crown Office Pay

Following the close of conference, correspondence was received from John Whitefoot, Head of Industrial Relations, offering dates to meet to discuss our Crown Office members’ pay claim. Contained within this letter was confirmation that Roger Gale, Crown General Manager “...is now in a position to table a formal pay offer...”.

Accordingly, I am pleased to report the first formal pay meeting will be held next Friday 6th May. It should be noted our pay claim, on behalf of the Postal Executive, was submitted on 6th January and it has taken the Post Office some four months to offer the first meeting date. It can only be hoped the Post office is now in a position to treat seriously our very modest pay claim that in essence is simply seeking parity with our Admin & Supply Chain members’ pay agreement which was 1.9% from April 2016.

Whilst it is our clear objective to reach an overarching agreement covering all the serious issues facing our members, this does not preclude us from concluding a pay agreement for our Crown members as a standalone issue. This of course assumes that sufficient and quick progress can be made arising from next week’s pay negotiations.

Following the pay negotiation on Friday 6th May, we will be providing an update to our statutory Postal Executive meeting on Tuesday 10th May and any developments arising from this meeting will be reported.

In closing, please can Branches as a matter of urgency bring our policy decisions (E3) and the associated development (pay meeting) to the attention of our members employed in the Post Office.

Yours sincerely



Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary