Royal Mail/CWU Joint Statement Resolving displaced employees in Processing

Royal Mail and CWU acknowledge that the number of displaced has reduced due to a combination of initiatives including the previous autumn preference exercise.

 

We have now agreed the following points to assist and reduce the number further, they are as follows:

 

  1. Fully displaced colleagues will join the redeployment programme but will no longer be required to leave their parent Mail Centre to attend. The Redeployment programme will be hosted in the plants.Displaced colleagues will be supported to undertake the equivalent of two days of job search and in the remaining three days they will be deployed on meaningful work.

 

  1. Displaced colleagues will be offered all vacancies within the Mail Centre and surrounding offices as they occur.

 

  1. Bump VRs in line with MTSF will be offered to existing Mail Centre staff. This will then allow displaced employees to pick up the resulting vacancy.

 

  1. Where agency/casual spend is constantly being used against workload, then discussions will take place within the Mail Centre to replace the agency/casuals with displaced/supernumerary staff.

 

  1. National parties will continue to review opportunities to move workload between Plants or Hubs to reduce agency/casual resource on site and assist in reducing the displaced/supernumerary staff.

 

Royal Mail and CWU are committed to resolving the number of displaced staff in line with MTSF but recognise that there may be occasions where the support of the redeployment programme is required. Talks will take place where this isn’t possible especially regarding the impact from the Midlands Hub.

This will then include the opportunity of any vacancies for surplus staff to move to and the further use of the redeployment programme to reduce the level of displaced employees.

It is further agreed that where major change occurs (Midland Superhub transition, further realignment activity and Network window changes) a duty resign in line with national agreements may take place. All displaced colleagues from the parent unit will be able to take part in this activity using their overall seniority.

  1. The signatories will jointly review this Joint Statement every month to ensure that we are reducing the number of displaced staff, whilst improving staff morale. Reviews will take place every two weeks to ensure the above approach is happening in practice.

 

  1. Both Parties will carry out a joint review of the programme in line with the principles of MTSF. This will include the ability to reskill and transfer internally within Royal Mails well as exploring the opportunity apply for jobs outside of Royal Mail.

 

Any issues or enquiries regarding this Joint Statement should be raised with the appropriate national signatories from both Royal Mail and the CWU.

 

 

Martin Walsh                                                              

Deputy General Secretary Postal

CWU

 

Alistair Cochrane

Chief Operations Officer

Royal Mail

                       

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

CWU

 

Ricky McAulay

UK Operations Director

Royal Mail

 

19th February 2024