return to delivery

2006 has been a hard year for us as Royal Mail proceed with their bombardment of saving plans, most offices have contributed to this years pay deal, which in turn has given us an extra 1% in our wages and with the agreement being extended to March 2007 we may see more of the savings converted in to our wages although its hard for us to give up savings I think at least this agreement actually gives us something back, but don’t be under any illusion, Royal Mail will be back year on year for more savings and it will get harder and harder for us to give up any hours with in the delivery section.
This is where your unit rep comes in, they are presented with proposals to make a level of savings for your unit and with your input, you see if you can accommodate Royal Mail’s wish list or make any contribution to the list at all, if not we then go down the INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS frame work (IR) this has several stages and at each stage we strive to get an agreement as any final savings made a percentage of these will be put into your wages, these may not be big figures but at least we are receiving the payment every week and it is also pensionable. you will now know how hard it is for your unit rep to represent you with in your unit and I think a lot of praise has to go out to our unit reps, they get shot at from both sides and have to fight the fight with equality and honesty and sometimes it is not what you as members want to here but it the right thing to do.

The next changes in the area will be re;-engineering this, in a nutshell means the snip and tip and counting of mail will be done from the mail centres and the mail will be presented to the delivery offices in a containerised state, this will give an accurate count of traffic we are receiving and may give us the evidence to make better arguments with in the negotiations in the year on year saving plans.

After this( I am sure you have all heard about )the WALK SORT SEQUENCING machines (WSS). These machines are predicted to eradicate the indoor aspect of the delivery section, as yet the reports we are getting on this have not been what we have expected and trials are still ongoing but I feel these machines will take a little longer to implement that was originally anticipated.

Good news for the Bootle and Seaforth delivery offices, the new building is now actually being built and we are sitting down with our members for them to have an input on the lay out of their new work place, the move is now scheduled for June /July 2007.

Section ballots

This year we have had to run a ballot for the area delivery rep substitute, on this I thank both Duncan and Trevor for placing their names up for election but I have to say yet again the turn out was abysmal, we even undertook an expensive home ballot so we could ensure all of you had an opportunity to have a say in who represents you, I have stated many a time that YOU are the union YOU have the say on what goes on, WE as area and unit reps guide you through the policies and agreements between Royal Mail and the C.W.U. and democracy and debate will give us the results. There will be several meetings over the next year and I would urge you to attend and have your say. The one good thing that has come out of talks this year is, from January 2007 all unit reps will be released 1 day a month for a strategic meeting, this combined with the weekly office meeting we should be able to keep everyone informed of everything that is happening with in the area.

May I take this opportunity to thank you for all your help and support over the past year and with your further support in meetings and suggestions we will prosper in the new year.

Happy Christmas and a prosperous New year to you and your families.

RESULTS IN AREA DELIVERY REP (SUB)

T.LITHERLAND 166 (ELECTED)

D. SAVAGE 159

Mike Yarwood Trevor Litherland Ray Lucas
Area Delivery Representative Area Delivery Rep(sub) Chairman
Merseyside Amal Merseyside Amal Merseyside Amal