LTB 398/24 – USO Pilots
No. 398/24
Dear Colleagues,
USO Pilots
As reported at the national briefing we have been in discussions with Royal Mail over piloting their preferred USO reform model.
The pilot will take place from February 2025 in 37 units across the UK. 34 of these units were selected by Divisional Representatives and 3 by Royal Mail.
The pilots will test the method change assumptions linked to the USO change.
Royal Mail’s preferred USO change titled ‘the Optimised Delivery Model’ is based on the following:
- 1st Class and parcels will be delivered to every address Monday to Saturday.
- Non priority (DSA, 2nd class) will be delivered to an address every other day Monday to Friday.
The key principles state that the pilots must:
- Maintain or improve quality
- Must deliver fair and manageable workload and address fatigue.
- Must improve attendance patterns with fewer Saturday attendances.
- Will improve culture, morale and confidence in the workplace.
We have now secured both a Terms of Reference for the pilots and an agreed statement on moving forward some issues.
Within the statement we have now agreed that circa 11,000 part timers will from 1st January 2025 have the ability to increase their contracted hours, including up to full time, on the legacy terms and conditions. This commitment is ongoing and applies to any further increase in part time contracted hours.
We have also ensured that no surplus employees will be moved from the pilot sites and scheduled attendance will be maintained.
We have also improved the attendance procedure. Stats show that only 2.2% of the 33 charged individuals who are issued an AR1 appeal and that when they do 52% are successful. There is only 5.5% of the 6467 individuals who are issued an AR2 that appeal. Yet out of 358 individuals who appeal 208 win their appeal.
The issuing of an AR1 or AR2 are not done at Welcome Back meetings. The manager at the Welcome Back meetings decides whether an absence counts towards an AR warning but the AR warnings are generated centrally. Evidence shows 19% of absences are discounted.
We have therefore made the following improvements.
- All managers will be reminded that they have the full authority to discount absences counting towards AR warnings.
- That we will highlight to employees that they have the right to appeal an AR1.
- That they will get an automatic appeal at AR2.
We will then look to address some further issues and achieve an agreed attendance procedure.
We will report further developments on the USO pilots in due course.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Walsh
Deputy General Secretary (Postal)
Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary
Davie Robertson
Assistant Secretary
Tony Bouch
Assistant Secretary
Bobby Weatherall
Acting Assistant Secretary