LTB 373/18 – OPENREACH – Service Delivery (SD) Field Saturday Attendance Requirements
No. 373/2018
Ref: DB/LEL
Date: 28 June 2018
TO ALL BRANCHES WITH MEMBERS IN BT
Dear Colleague,
OPENREACH – Service Delivery (SD) Field Saturday Attendance Requirements
Following the carriage of Motion 16 at this year’s Telecoms Industry Conference, the CWU National Team (NT) has been in discussions with Openreach with the objective of achieving its aims. The NT has met regularly with the Single Points of Contact and received feedback with regard to the approach being taken. The motion is reproduced below for ease of reference:-
Conference is concerned that having served notice on the CWU, that there was a genuine business rationale for the number of Saturdays to rise above 12 in some Service Delivery GM patches, Openreach has continued to keep the level above 12 beyond the agreed 12 months. This is a clear breach of agreements with the CWU. Furthermore, it has become clear that the stated rationale, of CL2 volumes is not the genuine reason our members have been deployed on Saturdays.
The Service Delivery Transformation Agreement, on which our members were balloted, set out limits and protocols on the number of Saturdays and lates, in order to give them assurance that the company had a genuine mindfulness of their work life/balance. It is becoming clear that Openreach are having less and less regard for the work life balance of our members and are undermining this agreement.
This Conference instructs the Telecoms and Financial Services Executive to ensure that the company complies with its commitment to genuinely taking account of the work life/balance and social, personal and domestic circumstances of our members. The Executive should ensure that Openreach reverts all team members back to the maximum of 12 Saturdays per year within two months of the close of conference. Should Openreach fail to do so within the above time scales then the Telecom and Financial Services Executive shall mount a campaign, regarding our members’ lack of work life/balance, up to and including industrial action.
The NT is pleased to report to Branches that the terms of the motion have been met and a commitment received from the company that the number of Saturdays required at this time will be set at 12 for all patches. The changes will be put in place following the existing protocols contained within the flexible attendance patterns framework. The NT has also secured a commitment to trial a 3 day week within SD Field.
Please find attached a letter from Openreach which sets out the details associated with this approach including the new modeller, a revised approach to Saturday annual leave, the introduction of a seasonal working pattern and the trial of a 3 day week. Also attached is a copy of the company’s communications which will be issued today.
New Modeller
Following conference a workshop was held at which the new modeller was demonstrated. That workshop was attended by the NT, all SPOCs, the Regional Performance Managers and representatives from operations within Service Delivery. The new model allows certain ‘levers’ to be pulled which can amend the number of Saturdays required in each SOM patch. The workshop was followed by meetings held at Regional level, at which the output from the modeller was discussed and the potential new levels of Saturday working outlined. Utilising that approach allowed some but not all SOM patches to reach the level required within the motion, i.e. 12.
Revised Approach to Saturday Annual Leave
Branches will be aware of the ‘Saturday Rule’ which limited single day annual leave requests outwith a 6 week window. That rule was removed in 2013 and since then the number of Saturdays booked as single days has increased blocking leave for others within that leave group and also reducing capacity of resource on Saturdays. In order to ensure a fairness for all our members, the NT has agreed a new approach which can be used as an enabler in those patches where the required number of Saturdays is above the agreed level of 12. The exact requirement will be subject to consultation and agreement with the CWU, i.e. the level of capacity required to reduce the Saturday commitment to 12.
Seasonal Working Pattern
In previous years a voluntary approach to seasonal working has been in place to allow those not on a 5 day working pattern to move to a seasonal pattern for 14 weeks during the winter. The structure of that was agreed at a Regional level in order to best utilise daylight hours. This pattern will now be available on a permanent basis in the following ways:-
- New recruits as part of their preference exercise;
- Existing employees who submit a request to adopt the pattern.
In addition, the pattern will continue to be available on a voluntary basis each year to those who do not wish to make a permanent change. The voluntary exercise will take place in plenty of time for individuals to book leave over the Christmas and New Year period.
3 day Week Trial
The NT has been pursuing this issue for some time in order to ‘test’ the pattern both from a demand and effectiveness perspective. The NT is also acutely conscious of the safety and European Working Time Directive impacts of this approach. In order to do so engineers will be asked to express an interest in trialling the pattern for a 13 week period. Clearly we will require a level of volunteers (in a geography) which will ensure any statistical output is meaningful. In addition, the trial will have a mix of urban and rural locations as well as a blend of engineers with different skills, tenure and existing attendance pattern. The NT is working through the final detail and this will be shared in due course and ahead of any voluntary exercise.
The NT believes that this overall approach resets the discussion regarding Saturday working in line with the conference motion. Going forward, any proposals to change the number of Saturdays our members are scheduled to attend will continue to be dealt with in line with the agreed protocols, i.e. subject to meaningful negotiation and agreement with the appropriate CWU Branch(es).
Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be sent to my office in the first instance.
Yours sincerely,
DAVIE BOWMAN
Assistant Secretary
28.6.18 – LTB 373 – OPENREACH – Service Delivery (SD) Field Saturday Attendance Requirements