BRANCH OFFICIALS BULLETIN - the CWU

BRANCH OFFICIALS BULLETIN 

Weekly information from the Communication Workers Union 

150 The Broadway Wimbledon, London SW19 1RX Tel: 020 8971 7200 

Fax: 020 8971 7300 Email: info@cwu.org Web: www.cwu.org 

General Secretary: Billy Hayes Weblog: www.billyhayes.co.uk 

No.14 

14 April 2006 ◆ Volume 11 ◆ Paragraphs 218 – 230 

Available by email on Friday of each week 

SUMMARY 

GENERAL 

218 Liaison Meetings with CWU Group MPs 

219 Branch Magazine Competition 

220 Stop the War on Iran Before it Starts 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES 

221 Harassment Complaints Database – Union Policy 

222 Annual Conference 2006 – Equality Disco 

223 Black Workers’ Conference 2006 

HEALTH AND SAFETY 

224 Royal Mail Group – Help the Hospices Partnership – CWU 

TELECOMS 

225 ZBB: Redeployment Update 

226 BT Wholesale: ZBB in Security, Resilience and Business Continuity 

227 Telewest: Director and HoD Levels in Ops & Logistics 

228 Telewest: SARS in Telewest 

229 BT Wholesale: 21CN and Pathfinder 

POSTAL 

230 Royal Mail Uniform – Polo Shirts 

LETTERS TO BRANCHES 

214 30/03/06 Manpower UK Limited – Change of Rest Day – Sally Bridge 

215 30/03/06 Asbestos Removal and Contamination Incidents in BT – Dave Joyce 

216 30/03/06 BT Global Services – Proposed Dispersal of OU,TES, SATNET & Teleports – 

Billy McClory 

217 30/03/06 Key Religious Festivals and Holidays 2006 – Michelle Emèrson 

218 30/03/06 Royal Mail Easter Arrangements – Bob Gibson 

219 31/03/06 NHS National Bowel Council Screening Program – Dave Joyce 

220 31/03/06 Royal Mail Pay – Dave Ward 

221 31/03/06 POL Pay Negotiations 2006 – Andy Furey 

222 03/04/06 Ballots to be Conducted at Annual Conference – Steve Baguley 

223 03/04/06 Closure of TriVirix Northern Ireland – Nigel Cotgrove 

224 04/04/06 Rule Book – John Baldwin 

225 04/04/06 National Briefing: Campaigning Activity: Labour Party – GS 

226 04/04/06 Branch Direct – Terry Pullinger 

227 04/04/06 Officerial Responsibilities – Jeannie Drake 

228 05/04/06 BT Payphones – Fabric Maintenance and Cleaning – Ian Cuthbert 

229 05/04/06 May Day March for Workplace Justice – Billy Hayes 

230 05/04/06 Monteray Pay Review 2006 – Simon Sapper 

231 05/04/06 Bank Holiday Pay Arrangements – Easter and May 2006 – Dave Ward 

232 05/04/06 Eurest Pay Review 06 – 0 2 Contract – Sally Bridge 

233 05/04/06 Campaign to recruit a Monerary Rep – Simon Sapper 

234 05/04/06 Easter Arrangements 2006 – Bob Gibson 

235 05/04/06 0 2 Advisory Committee – Engineering Substitute Members – Grace Mitchell 

236 05/04/06 Special Delivery – Saturday Guaranteed – Bob Gibson 

237 06/04/06 Finance Operations Pay Agreement – April 2006 – Andy Furey 

238 06/04/06 Romec Limited Cleaners Pay and Associated Issues – Bob Gibson 

239 07/04/06 Residential Education Update – Trish Lavelle 

240 07/04/06 Royal Mail Letters Pay April 2006 – Dave Ward 

241 07/04/06 CWU Consultative Ballots – Dave Ward 

242 10/04/06 Disposal of OU,TES, SATNET & Teleports – Bill McClory 

243 10/04/06 Eurest Pay Review 2006 – Accenture HR Service Contractor – Sally Bridge 

244 10/04/06 Post Office Limited Pay 2006 – Andy Furey

2 l BRANCH OFFICIALS BULLETIN ◆ 14 April 2006 ◆ Volume 11 ◆ No.14 

245 10/04/06 NEC and National Representative Elections 2006 – Steve Baguley 

246 11/04/06 Legal Services Department – Legal Advice Annual Conference May 2006 – 

Tony Rupa 

247 11/04/06 National Briefing: Campaigning Activity: Labour Party – GS 

248 12/04/06 The Future of Royal Mail – GS 

GENERAL 

218 

Liaison Meetings with CWU 

Group MPs 

Meetings up to the Summer Recess 

have now been arranged with CWU 

supported MPs, for your information, 

I list below the dates of the meetings 

and those nominated to attend: 

9 May 

Steve Fishwick, Graham Colk, John 

Holmes and 1 representative from 

Wales 

11 July 

PFMC members to be nominated and 

1 representative from the North East 

Region. 

Billy Hayes 

General Secretary 

219 

Branch Magazine Competition 

Branch hacks take note! The annual 

awards rewarding the very best CWU 

branch magazines are up for grabs 

once again – and as normal the 

competition will reach its climax at 

Annual Conference in Bournemouth. 

Nominations are now open, so it’s time 

to think about getting recognition for 

the branch editors who beaver away 

to bring you the information you need 

at branch level. All you have to do is 

decide which edition of the magazine 

was your best of the last twelve 

months and send three copies to: 

Marcia Murray, CWU Communications 

Department, 150 The Broadway, 

Wimbledon, London, SW19 1RX. 

Deadline for entries is Tuesday May 9 

so don’t delay, particularly considering 

substantial prizes are at stake thanks 

to Hamilton Bank which is once again 

sponsoring the competition. 

This year the branch magazine winners 

will walk away with a total of £300 in 

software vouchers, enabling them to 

improve their publications still further. 

220 

Stop the War on Iran Before it 

Starts 

Public meetings addressed by 

Professor Abbas Edalat, founder of 

The Campaign against Sanctions and 

Military Intervention in Iran (www. 

campaigniran.org). Professor Edalat is a 

London-based Iranian who has worked 

tirelessly to alert us to this dangerous 

escalation of the war. He recently 

spoke at the New York, 18 March, antiwar 

demonstration and his appearance 

in Scotland is a major event on the 

anti-war calendar. 

There will be three meetings: 

1) Glasgow at 7 pm on Wednesday 26 

April, Al-Furgan Mosque, Carrington 

Street. There will be tea and biscuits 

and a short film showing at 9 p.m. 

2) Edinburgh at 7.30 pm on Thursday 

27 April, St John’s Church, Princes 

Street. 

3) Glasgow University probably at 1.00 

pm on 27 April. Details to be finalised 

and will appear on our website www. 

iransolidarity.endofempire.org 

All welcome. Admission free. 

Any enquires about this paragraph 

should be addressed to the GS 

Department, CWU HQ. 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES 

221 

Harassment Complaints 

Database – Union Policy 

Branches are again reminded of 

the need to fill in the Harassment 

Complaints Database (HCD) Forms, as 

illustrated in LTB 450/04. 

Please ensure that all reps have a copy 

of LTB 450/04 as it contains useful 

guidance as well as the form itself. 

Branches may also find LTB 289/04 

useful which contains information 

on the Harassment Helpline and the 

Harassment Advice Network as well as 

the HCD. The completion of the HCD 

forms is part of our agreement with 

the Equal Opportunities Commission 

and is, therefore, CWU policy. (The full 

agreement can be found in LTB 292/04) 

The Equal Opportunities Commission 

has raised concerns with us regarding 

the completion rate, which we need 

to address, otherwise we will fall foul 

of the agreement. Therefore, please 

ensure that any complaint raised with 

branch reps by members that involves 

possible Harassment should be notified 

to HQ via these forms. 

We appreciate that this will add to an 

already busy work schedule for those 

reps that have the responsibility for 

completing them, but there is no scope 

for non-compliance. We must accept 

that this will become an accepted 

culture in terms of harassment 

reporting. The data that will come 

through to HQ will be vital in enabling 

us to analyse and identify any obvious 

patterns where problems exist. 

We extend our appreciation to all those 

branches already complying with the 

policy and look forward to the cooperation 

of all Branches in this matter. 

Any enquiries regarding this paragraph 

please contact Michèle Emerson at 

CWU HQ 

222 

Annual Conference 2006 

– Equality Disco 

The time has come to start 

preparations for the Equality Disco 

2006, which is to be held on the 

Saturday preceding Annual Conference, 

i.e. 20th May 2006. 

I would like thank the Branches who 

have made donations in previous years 

and would be grateful if Branches 

could consider donating raffle prizes 

again this year, the proceeds of which 

will be given to charity. 

If Branches are able to contribute, 

please contact: Katrina Quirke, email: 

Katrina.quirke@btopenworld.com or Tel: 

07967 503372. 

Any enquiries concerning this 

paragraph should be addressed to 

Michèle Emerson, Assistant Secretary 

quoting reference 1.10.1. 

223 

Black Workers’ Conference 

2006 

The CWU recently attended the TUC 

Black Workers Conference 2006, which 

this year was held in Eastbourne at the 

Floral Halls, Winter Gardens. The CWU 

submitted the following motion: 

“The Importance of Equality 

– Conference records the important 

role that equality issues play in building 

up trade union organisation and 

membership. 

We believe the General Council must 

listen to the voices of the equality 

conferences as the collective opinion 

of workers affected by discrimination 

and prejudice. Therefore we ask for the 

General Council to consider: 

1. The right of the equality conferences 

to submit 2 motions to conference; 

and 

2. The right of direct representation 

from the equality conferences to the 

General Council.” 

We are pleased to confirm that the 

motion was overwhelmingly carried 

though there was opposition from 

Amicus. 

We are also pleased to confirm 

that the CWU were able to stand 

two candidates for the TUC Race 

Committee election – the candidates 

were Ian Taylor (Greater Manchester 

Amal) and Susie Mwasambili (Bradford 

& District Amal). It gives us great


pleasure to confirm that both our 

candidates have been successfully 

elected on to the TUC Race Committee 

for the 2006/2007 term. Manny Blake 

is standing down from the committee 

after serving for a number of years. 

Manny retires after this year’s CWU 

Annual Conference 2006 and we wish 

him well. 

The CWU also had a number 

of speakers who contributed to 

debates throughout the Conference. 

Contributions were made by Amarjite 

Singh, Pav Alam, Winston Richards, 

Michele Emerson, Ian Taylor, Susie 

Mwasambili and Manny Blake. 

Equal Opportunities Department 

HEALTH AND SAFETY 

224 

Royal Mail Group – Help the 

Hospices Partnership – CWU 

Following a Royal Mail Group staff vote 

involving CWU members, “Help the 

Hospices” was chosen as the Major 

Supported Charity for the Royal Mail 

Group (RMG). RMG will now work in 

partnership for the next year, raising 

funds for “Help the Hospices” and 

raising awareness of hospice care 

around the UK. “Help the Hospices” 

coordinate fundraising initiatives, 

provide free information and advice, 

offer grants to hospice staff and 

volunteers and give a voice to the 

views and concerns of local hospices. 

“Help the Hospices” is the national 

charity for the hospice movement, 

providing services that support the 

UK’s 220+ local hospices in their vital 

work on the frontline of caring for 

children and adults with life threatening 

illnesses. Each year UK hospices need 

to raise over £400 million to keep local 

hospices going, making charitable 

hospice care the biggest fundraising 

cause at the heart of communities 

throughout the UK. 

Hospices aim to improve the quality 

of life of people living with terminal 

illness and help people to live life to 

the full for whatever time they have left. 

They give patients and their families 

and carers support and care based on 

each persons own unique emotional, 

physical and spiritual needs. Hospices 

rely on people making donations and 

fundraising in order that they can 

continue to offer care that is free of 

charge to anyone who needs it. 

“Help the Hospices” believe that the 

end of life is just as important as the 

beginning and that everyone should 

have access to the best care of their 

choice. Hospice care is provided free 

of charge and is open to all, but the 

costs of running such services are 

high. Every Royal Mail Group site has 

now been matched to a local hospice 

in their area so that the workforce are 

able to fundraise or volunteer directly 

for them. Each local hospice will have 

different needs, so the money Royal 

Mail employees raise will make a direct 

difference to their community. 

Fundraising packs with more 

information about the campaign can be 

ordered over a special phone line which 

will also provide information regarding 

the local hospice to which particular 

Offices or buildings have been twinned 

with. The CSR helpline number to call 

is 0845 600 9665 or (Postline 5456 

4697). 

Royal Mail is also recruiting Community 

Coordinators at each site or Office 

to act as a point on contact for the 

local hospice fundraisers and to 

encourage and support colleagues 

in their fundraising efforts for Help 

“The Hospices” and other charities 

they wish to support. An information 

pack with details of the role and how 

to get further information was sent to 

all DOMs and Mail Centre Managers 

in January. If you require anymore 

information or want to nominate a 

community coordinator please contact 

the CSR helpline on 0845 600 9665. 

With your help, we can make sure 

that your local hospice can support its 

community for years to come. You can 

help add life to days, even where days 

can not be added to lives. 

Would Branches consider which 

way they could support the scheme 

and discuss the matter with the 

“Community Coordinators”. 

If you require anymore information, 

please contact the CSR helpline 

on 0845 600 9665. The Royal Mail 

Supported Charity Manager is Alice 

Barran based at London’s Mount 

Pleasant, telephone numbers: Land line 

020 7239 2278 Post line 5472 2278 

Mobile 07736 786 858. 

All enquiries concerning the above 

should be addressed to Dave Joyce 

National Health, Safety & Environment 

Officer quoting ref: P24 

TELECOMS 

225 

ZBB: Redeployment Update 

Further to the report given in Branch 

Officials Bulletin No 11, paragraph 169, 

the attachment with this report gives 

latest situation as of 29th March 2006. 

Brian Healy 

Assistant Secretary 

226 

BT Wholesale: ZBB in Security, 

Resilience and Business 

Continuity 

Branches will find two attachments to 

this paragraph relating to the above 

issue. In particular, may I draw your 

attention to the paragraphs contained 

in the letter from Ray Mckeown 

referring to the appointment procedure 

and selection process that is going to 

be applied. 

Brian Healy 


227 

Telewest: Director and HoD 

Levels in Ops & Logistics 

Attached for Branches information 

is a copy of the latest organisational 

structure for Operations and Logistics 

within Telewest/ntl. 

Brian Healy 


228 

Telewest: SARS in Telewest 

It has been brought to the union’s 

attention that there has been an unfair 

application of the SARS policy within 

Telewest recently whereby there 

have been several cases of Telewest 

engineers being placed onto the 

SARS1 procedure without Managers 

using their ‘discretion’ as outlined in the 

Management Guidelines. 

In both cases, the employees had 

undergone operations and were 

covered by a doctor’s certificate for the 

period of time they were on sick leave. 

However, because, in both cases the 

period of sick leave exceeded five days 

in the last six months this triggered the 

SARS1 process. 

The Management Guidelines allow for 

discretion to be applied and in these 

cases there was clearly no reason 

for the managers to be concerned 

as to the level of authenticity of 

the absences. In addition, we have 

evidence where in Networks, team 

managers are exercising reasonable 

judgement in similar situations. 

The need to seek positive parity across 

the Business regarding this policy 

has now been raised with Telewest 

Management and we await Telewest’s 

response. Branches will be kept 

informed of the outcome. 

Brian Healy 


229 

BT Wholesale: 21CN and 

Pathfinder 

In approaching the arrangements 

to apply for the trial of 21CN in the 

Pathfinder deployment, the Executive 

team has been guided by the 

requirements of Annual Conference 

(2005), Proposition 56. 

At this stage of the development of 

21CN, it is surprisingly unclear what 

products and services will be available 

and this is an issue of some debate 

within BT.


Installation and Maintenance 

On the subject of installation and 

maintenance, it has been agreed for 

the purposes of Pathfinder that the 

following will apply. 

I-Node/Core Node – Individuals will 

be selected from the Switch and 

Transmission teams and must be willing 

to train on 21CN. Assuming geographic 

suitability so that both the 21CN and 

legacy networks can be maintained, 

four people will be selected on the 

basis of their willingness to work nights. 

A further five people will be selected 

for daytime working based on the best 

geographical locations best mix of skills 

and willingness to work the appropriate 

day patterns for maintaining service on 

both the 21CN and legacy network. 

Metro-Node – All people in the Switch 

and Transmission teams in the area 

surrounding the Metro Nodes (Newport 

& Swansea) and Core Node (Cardiff) 

will be trained. If there are any shortfalls 

management will seek volunteers from 

the Core Build teams. 

MSANs – All Switch and Transmission 

and Core Build people in the Pathfinder 

region will be trained. 

Attendance 

In order to meet the requirements of 

the Trials and Pathfinder, there will be a 

need to have 24 hour cover. Therefore 

management will be introducing night 

working into the South Wales area. 

The current assumption is that nightworking 

would need to be effective 

from June 2006. 

There is a need for a total of 4 people 

working nights to ensure full night 

coverage, supporting the Metro, I and 

Coe Nodes in the region as follows: 

MSANS – No change to individuals’ 

current attendance patterns is 

envisaged at this time. 

Metro-Node – No change to individuals’ 

current attendance patterns is 

envisaged at this time. 

Core/I-Node – Four people selected 

for Core/I-Node training will be 

required to work nights. To achieve 

24/7 cover managers will also have to 

make appropriate adjustments to day 

patterns, via the 3 & 4 Day pattern 

options. 

To populate these new patterns 

management will, in the first instance, 

seek volunteers, and will need to 

review with the CWU if insufficient 

volunteers are found. The precise 

future attendance arrangements are not 

known as management believe this will 

be driven by the product and service 

offerings and the service reliability of 

the platform. 

Training 

To ensure management have sufficient 

resource for the 21CN trials and 

Pathfinder management have agreed 

to train more people than assumptions 

drawn from the manufacturers’ quoted 

fault rates for the equipment would 

imply. 

They have also agreed that they will 

not train individuals where they have 

expressly stated that they do not wish 

to be trained on 21CN and where their 

choice of exclusion would not cause 

any operational issues. The union 

believes that there will not be any 

issues arising from this. 

Grading 

Whilst not specifically covered by 

Annual Conference Proposition 56, the 

Executive team has tried to ascertain 

the level of skills and competencies. 

This has not been possible prior to 

the deployment of the Pathfinder 

equipment. It is agreed that both 

parties do not yet have experience 

or knowledge of maintaining the new 

network, nor does the Executive know 

what the ultimate functions and roles 

will be within the 21CN environment. 

Therefore it is not proposed to make 

any changes to individuals’ grades as 

a result of changes to work practices 

because of 21CN trials and Pathfinder 

work. Further discussions on any 

evidence forthcoming from Pathfinder 

will take place to agree future changes 

to roles and functions and the 

appropriate grading. 

Conference policy also sought 

that any framework should cover 

redeployment. Whilst the union has 

sufficient agreements/understandings 

with BT group on redeployment, 

including Pay and Pension Protection 

policy, there is an obvious need at 

this stage to trade off and balance the 

aspirations of members who wish to 

stay with BT under 21CN and those 

whose personal plans see in the near 

future to cease their employment with 

BT. This is against the background 

of a gradual change out in any one 

location of the old for new platforms. 

As a consequence and it is at a very 

embryonic stage, the Executive may 

well be able to draw up a resourcing/ 

selection/redeployment protocol which 

matches the requirements of the 

respective community of interests. It 

is quite feasible that providing those 

members who believe they will be 

staying with BT for a relatively short 

to medium period of time and are 

prepared to move with a restricted 

geographical distance, they could 

well see out their employment helping 

maintain to the last moment the old 

AXE10 and System X platforms. 

Branches should take this as an 

interim report and a constructive 

response from the Company in terms 

of attempting to address the policy 

objectives is Propostion 56. 

Brian Healy 


POSTAL 

230 

Royal Mail Uniform – 

Polo Shirts 

Since the introduction of the polo shirt 

for non-customer-facing staff in 1999, 

we have, by Conference decision, 

been seeking to extend the option of 

a polo shirt to all Royal Mail uniformed 

members. It will be noted from the 

letter reproduced below that this has 

now been achieved. 

Dave Warren 

CWU – NEC 

Dear Dave 

Royal Mail Uniform – Polo Shirts 

You’ll recall from my previous 

correspondence that we’ve been 

reviewing our current policy of 

restricting the issue of polo shirts to 

non-customer-facing employees. We’ve 

now completed this review, and I’m 

pleased to tell you that, from Monday 

3 April this year, polo shirts will be 

available to all Royal Mail employees 

currently entitled to full uniform, 

including those on customer-facing 

work such as deliveries and driving 

duties. We expect this enhancement to 

be popular with wearers, and in order 

to ensure that the change doesn’t incur 

excessive cost, the introduction will be 

managed carefully: 

• Polo shirts will not be an additional 

allocation to customer-facing job 

categories, but will be part of the 

same overall shirt and blouse 

entitlement which non-customerfacing 

people have. 

• They will be supplied as replacements 

for formal shirts only when existing 

garments need to be renewed, and 

not on a bulk issue. Line managers 

will be monitoring requests and must 

be satisfied that replacements are 

genuinely needed before authorising 

orders. 

• The polo shirt will replace the shortsleeved 

formal shirt and blouse in 

the range, but the long-sleeved shirt 

and blouse will remain available to 

all uniform wearers who prefer the 

formal style. 

We’ll be communicating this change via 

the usual channels. Please get in touch 

if you’d like to discuss any of the points 

I’ve mentioned, or any other uniform 

issues. 

Yours sincerely 

Bob Taylor 

Uniform Manager,Royal Mail


Regrettably, it will also be noted that, 

in finally accepting our case for the 

availability of polo shirts, management 

have withdrawn the option of the short 

sleeved formal shirt/blouse after current 

stocks are exhausted. 

This aspect has not been discussed 

with the Union and we will be taking 

this aspect up with a view to retaining 

the option of a short sleeved formal 

shirt/blouse for those of our members 

who would prefer it. 

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s 

Department, quoting ref: 500 

EVENTS BULLETIN 

Friday 21 April 2006: National 

Briefing Campaign: Campaigning 

Activity: Labour Party. The national 

briefing will take place from 10.30am 

to 3.30pm at the British Library. The 

aim of the event is to strengthen the 

Union’s campaigning activity inside 

the Labour Party. The event is open 

to Branch Secretaries, Regional 

Secretaries, Regional Political 

Secretaries, together with CWU Labour 

Party Members. An agenda will be 

sent out in due course. Any difficulties 

should be reported in writing to the 

General Secretary by no later than 2pm 

on Tuesday, 11 April 2006. 

Tuesday 25 – Thursday 27 April 2006: 

Taking a case to Tribunal. This 3 

day course will provide you with the 

steps you need to take to prepare 

and present a cost to an employment 

tribunal. The course will help you 

build an employment tribunal case, 

understand the necessary procedural 

steps and evaluate the case. To be 

held at 1 Bedford Avenue, London (2 

mins walk from Congress House). For 

more information contact the Southern 

& Eastern Education Congress House 

on 020 7467 1284. 

Friday 28th April 2006: Preston & 

District Workers’ Memorial Day 

Committee are holding a series of 

Trade Union events and activities. 

On and around Workers’ Memorial 

Day 28th April 2006, please contact 

graham.king@baesystems.com for 

further details. 

Monday 1 May 2006: May Day March 

for Workplace Justice. The TUC are 

organising a major march & rally on the 

TUC Freedom Bill. Speakers include 

Ken Livingstone London Mayor, Gloria 

Mills TUC President, Paul Kenny GMB 

and many more. Assemble Clarkenwell 

Green 12pm, Rally 2.30pm Trafalgar 

Square. Join London’s May Day March 

to Say ‘Yes’ to Workers’ Rights. For 

more information contact the TUC 

Organisation & Services Department 

London May Day Organisation 

Committee at www.tuc.org.uk/mayday 

Tuesday 2 May 2006: The Equalities 

Review will be in Glasgow. It will be 

held at the Trades Hall of Glasgow, 

85 Glasford Street, Glasgow, G1 1UH 

and starts at 09:30 to 12:30 inclusive. 

Scottish CWU activists/members are 

encouraged to attend this event. The 

programme is as follows: Introduction 

from Trevor Phillips, An overview of 

the interim report by Trevor Phillips, 

Presentation by a local speaker, Q&A 

session, Discussion in small groups 

and a feedback session. There is no 

charge to attend the consultation event 

and interested parties can register 

online at www.theequalitiesreview. 

org.uk Please get approval from your 

Branch before attending if you will be 

claiming travel and subsistence as this 

will have to be met by your Branch. If 

there are any queries the organisers 

can be contacted on 01772 767720 or 

email equalitiesreview@glasgows.co.uk 

Tuesday 2 – Wednesday 3 May 2006: 

TUC Discussion Leaders Course. To 

be held at Congress House at 9.30am 

– 4.30pm. The purpose of this course 

is to equip union representatives with 

the necessary skills and knowledge to 

run workplace discussions on key work 

place/trade union issues. For more 

information contact Jaspal Umra on 

020 7467 1237. 

Wednesday 3 May 2006: Retired 

Members’ Advisory Committee. 

Meeting at 13.30hrs, CWU HQ, 

Wimbledon. 

Wednesday 3 May 2006: Postal 

Executive. Meets at CWU HQ 

Wimbledon at 10:00 – 17:00. Rooms 

1 & 2 

Monday 8 May 2006: Progress to 

debate local election results. Four 

days after the local elections, Progress 

will be providing the first opportunity 

for party members to come together 

and debate the meaning of the results, 

the Secretary of State for Culture, 

Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, who is 

running Labour’s campaign in London, 

will speak at a meeting entitled ‘All 

politics is local: The political landscape 

after May’s elections’. She will be 

joined by former MP Oona King; Roger 

Mortimore, senior analyst at Mori; 

and the leader of the Lambeth Labour 

group, Steve Reed. The meeting will 

take place in Committee Room 15 in 

the House of Commons between 7 

and 8.15pm. To register please contact 

Neil Levitan on 0203 008 8180 or email 

neil@progressives.org.uk. 

Tuesday 9 May 2006: The Lord 

Chancellor and Secretary of State 

for Constitutional Affairs, Lord 

Falconer, will debate ‘Unfinished 

business: Can Labour plug the 

democratic deficit?’ With the 

Guardian’s Jackie Ashley; Pam Giddy, 

director of the Power Inquiry; and 

former minister John Spellar. The 

event takes place between 6 and 

7.30pm in the Wilson room of Portcullis 

House. To register please contact Neil 

Levitan on 0203 008 8180 or email 


Monday 8 – Wednesday 10 May 

2006: Employment Law Update. This 

3 day course is particularly suitable 

for established union officers and 

staff who have already taken the 

Employment Law or similar course. 

The agenda for this course is flexible 

and will depend on changes within the 

last 12 months in employment law and 

related areas such as discrimination 

and diversity law, preferences and 

priorities of course members – there is 

an opportunity to get assistance with 

your project. To be held at 1 Bedford 

Avenue, London (2 mins walk from 

Congress House). For more information 

contact the Southern & Eastern 

Education on 020 7467 1237. 

Saturday 13 May 2006: The State 

of London Debate. To be held at 

Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, 

Westminster. 10.00am – 4.45pm. This 

is your opportunity to put questions 

directly to the Mayor, policy makers 

and opinion formers on key issues that 

affect London. Topics covered on the 

day include transport, the Olympics, 

climate change, local policing and 

multiculturalism. Speakers include Ken 

Livingstone, Mayor of London, Paul 

Stephenson, Deputy Commissioner, 

Metropolitan Police, Joyce Ohajah, ITV 

Presenter. Registration closes on the 

Monday 8 May and spaces are limited. 

For more information contact 020 7983 

4748 or register now at www.london. 

gov.uk/stateoflondon 

Tuesday 16 – Thursday 18 May 2006: 

Using the Media. This 3 day course 

is for all union officers and staff who 

act as the union spokesperson and 

campaign and organizing staff who 

need to build media contact into 

their work. The course will cover a 

number of topics including what is 

‘news’ and how to make it work, how 

journalists work and when to contact 

them, legal issues – fair comment, libel 

slander and much more. To be held 

at 1 Bedford Avenue, London (2 mins 

walk from Congress House). There is a 

cost attached to this course. For more 

information contact the Southern & 

Eastern Education on 020 7467 1237.


Wednesday 17 May 2006: Global 

rights in global companies: going 

for gold at the UK Olympics. This 

one day conference organised by 

the Institute of Employment Rights 

will be held at One Bird Cage Walk 

conference centre, Westminster. Cost: 

IER subscribers and members £75.00, 

Trade Unions £90.00 and Commercial 

£220.00. 9 – 4.14. In the globalised 

market of the 21st century, the issue of 

global rights is increasingly important. 

Over the past 50 years, most countries 

have voluntarily signed up to core 

international labour standards, which 

guarantee fundamental rights at work. 

For more information contact the IER 

on 020 7498 6919. 

Saturday 20 May 2006: Progress 

will be holding a major one-day 

conference in Manchester. Ministers 

confirmed to speak so far include 

Hazel Blears, Bev Hughes, Andy 

Burnham, James Purnell and Ivan 

Lewis. The event, two weeks after 

the local elections, will provide an 

opportunity for party members to 

come together and discuss the results 

and their implications. Registration 

is essential. Please contact Neil 


neil@progressives.org.uk. A booking 

form for the conference can be 

downloaded from the Progress website 

www.progressives.org.uk/ 

Monday 22nd May 2006: Solent 

Branch will be holding a CWU 

Philippines Solidarity barbeque for 

conference delegates. To be held in 

the garden of The Branksome, 152- 

154 Commercial Road, The Triangle, 

Bournemouth, ten-minutes walk from 

the BIC. There will be entertainment, 

free food and a selection of free 

drinks (whilst stocks last). This starts 

at 7pm ‘till late. Invitation only. For 

information and invitations contact 

the branch on 01202 511022 or 

email cwusolent@btinternet.com 

Updates will also be available on the 

branch website at www.cwusolent. 

org The Branksome website is www. 

thebranksome.com/ 

Tuesday 6 June 2006: ‘Anti-semitism 

and the left: The acceptable 

prejudice?’. Will be the focus of a 

discussion between the writer and 

lawyer Anthony Julius; the Guardian’s 

Jonathan Freedland; John Mann, 

chair of the All-Party Group Against 

Anti-semitism; and Jane Ashworth, 

project director of Engage. The event 

takes place between 6 and 7.30pm 

in the Boothroyd room of Portcullis 

House. To register please contact Neil 



Tuesday 6 – Thursday 8 June 2006: 

Pensions. 9.30am – 4.30pm. This 3 

day course is for union officers and 

staff who are involved in consultation, 

negotiation and communication with 

members on pension schemes, in 

any sector. No previous knowledge of 

pensions is assumed. Participants are 

asked to collect essential information 

about schemes they deal with and use 

this information on the course. The 

course is not suitable for officers or 

representatives from single workplaces. 

To be held at 1 Bedford Avenue, 

London (2 mins walk from Congress 

House). For more information contact 

the Southern & Eastern Education on 

020 7467 1237. 

Wednesday 7 June 2006: Pensions 

after Turner. A one day seminar to be 

held at the NATFHE Centre, Britannia 

Street, London WC1, organized by 

the Institute of Employment Rights. 

1.30 – 4.15. Cost: IER subscribers 

and members £45.00, Trade Unions 

£60.00 and Commercial £120.00. In 

November 2005 the second Pensions 

Commission report was published. 

So what does it say? The TUC called 

the report “bold and hard headed” 

and said “Linking the basic state 

pension to earnings and introducing 

compulsory employer contributions 

are both extremely welcome. Speakers 

include Bryn Davies Director of UPS 

Ltd and co-author of Pension Promises 

and Employment Rights (IER, 2004), 

Joe Harris General Secretary of the 

National Pensions’ Convention and 

Carolyn Jones has been Director of the 

Institute of employment Rights since 

it was established in 1989. For more 

information contact the IER on 020 

7498 6919. 

Monday 26 June 2006: Sowing 

the seeds for growth: Meeting the 

customer challenge in a liberalized 

marketplace. The Future of UK 

Postal Service. The IEA’s Uk Postal 

Services conference is a key forum 

for understanding and discussing 

developments in this strategic 

market. With high quality speakers 

and delegates, it’s a valuable and 

stimulating event – for customers 

and service providers alike. Speakers 

include Alex Smith Director of Strategy, 

Royal Mail, Sarah Chambers Chief 

Executive, Postcomm, Nick Wells Chief 

Executive, TNT Mail and many more. 

For more information or to book online 

contact Marketforce Communications 

on 020 7608 0541 or visit www. 

marketforce.eu.com/ukpost 

If you have anything for the events 

bulletin page please send your 

contribution to Marcia Murray, CWU, 

Communication Department, 150 The 

Broadway, Wimbledon, SW19 IRX, Tel: 

020 8971 7497, Email: mmurray@cwu. 

org Details must arrive nine days before 

publication and must include a contact 

phone number, brief summary of the 

event, email and website address. 

Listings are free, but inclusion is not 

guaranteed.

BRANCH OFFICIALS BULLETIN - the CWU

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