RMG/CWU BUSINESS RECOVERY, TRANSFORMATION & GROWTH AGREEMENT SECTION 7 NATIONAL AGREED TRIAL INDOOR
No. 184/23
13th July 2023
Dear Colleagues,
RMG/CWU BUSINESS RECOVERY, TRANSFORMATION & GROWTH AGREEMENT SECTION 7 – NATIONAL AGREED TRIAL INDOOR DELIVERY METHODS CHANGES: JOINT COMMUNICATION
Branches and Representatives will be aware of the commitments contained in the Business Transformation, Recovery and Growth negotiators’ agreement in relation to Section 7, National Agreed Trial Indoor Delivery – Methods Change.
In line with the terms of this Section of the BTR&G agreement talks have been ongoing with Royal Mail in relation to progressing trial activity. These talks have concluded with an agreed Joint Communication, which is attached together with the associated Annexes.
As set out, the Indoor Delivery Methods trials will be held across 10 sites, one per Division as listed below:
Bournemouth DO (West Section) – South West/South Wales
Brandon DO – Anglia
Dover DO – South East
West Derby (Liverpool) DO – North West
Lanark DO – Scotland
Dronfield DO – North East
Pinner DO – South Central
Armagh – Northern Ireland
Cheadle – Midlands
Paddington – London
In addition, Branches will note that the specific methods to be trialled are set out in Annex A and this will be set against the success criteria, as set out in Section 7 of the BTR&G agreement, as detailed in Annex B.
The trial activity will ensure that CWU Representatives across the catchment areas will be fully involved in the activity, including the establishment of Local Joint Working Groups. To further support this, two launch events have already been held early this week to ensure full engagement from the CWU at all levels.
The trial will be further supported by both Departments and with PE members being nominated to oversee activity at each of the listed sites.
The trialled methods will be managed fully in line with the Royal Mail safety and quality standards. This will be done through risk assessment, SSOW and ergonomic assessment and the input of the CWU HS&E Department. During the trials, feedback will be sought from all individuals involved at the trial locations to suggest modifications to the way of working, the method used, and current equipment or alternative equipment.
Additionally, the trial will undertake relevant reviews and Industrial Engineering (IE) studies of the outdoor delivery operation in order to understand any possible impacts resulting from the indoor methods trials.
There will also be further joint IE studies to allow the measurement of the new methods compared with the traditional methods measured in the Industrial Engineering Planning Values Database.
This will measure what benefits and efficiency can be achieved through a revised method change. This will also include IE studies of a sample of walks involved in the trial in advance of the trial to support this feedback at a route level.
Full training will be provided for all Delivery OPGs engaged and Workplace Coaches involved in the trials.
All units involved in the trials will be managed consistent with national agreements, guidelines and procedures and both parties have agreed that during the trials there will be no structural changes to Duty Structures/AWD Duties or Scheduled Attendance arising from the activity.
In regard to the Upstream element it is confirmed that during the trial, there will be no changes to Processing or Distribution plans, specifically because of the trials.
However, discussions between Royal Mail and the CWU on the potential impact of Upstream Activity on the trial, in Mail Centres/Processing Units and Distribution will take place between the respective Roya Mail Leads and CWU National Parties, in order to discuss the engagement process for involving the Area Processing & Distribution Reps as part of the LJWG at in-scope units to support trial activity.
The trial will be jointly reviewed on an ongoing basis by the National JWG (including feedback from the Local JWGs), who will meet on a regular basis to discuss and review the progress of the trials.
The aim of the trials is to define a preferred method, which will be rolled out beyond the trial sites in order to support and facilitate National deployment from August 2023 onwards. The ongoing programme of rollout and National deployment will also form part of the joint outputs from the review.
As Branches will note from the agreed Joint Communication the explicit detail of the different methods to be trialled along with concepts and aims and objectives has been covered in some detail.
Also encompassed within the Joint Communication is that the trial is carried out with full CWU involvement and in line with the commitments set out in Section 7 of the BTR&G agreement.
Any queries to the content of the above, please contact the Outdoor Department, reference number: 540, email address:
Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email:
quoting reference number: 054.01.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Baulch – CWU Assistant Secretary
Davie Robertson – CWU Assistant Secretary
