CWU Eastern No.4 Branch Committee Meeting.
POL section report.26th November 08
01/08 Membership. Membership currently stands at 166 members. This is up 3 from last month, with four new recruits, but very sadly, the loss of a member who died of a long term illness. Although we have taken on representation of four more Crown Offices; Boston, Peterborough, Stamford, and Wisbech, I have yet to receive any membership details.
02/08 Attendance/Conduct. I have represented at 3 Stage I interviews and 1 Stage II for attendance since last months meeting. The Stage II was issued, as was one Stage I, the results of the other two are unknown at the moment.
05/08 Casuals. The rollout of COSA reaffirms the use of casuals as the last port of call in staffing offices with; overtime, banking of hours, specific event contracts, flexible attendance, surplus staff, supernumerary hours, taking precedence over casual use.
06/08 Duty Revisions. Bishops Stortford have had their Temporary duties proposed and accepted. The permanent revisions will start to be rolled out from the New Year.
10/08 CWU Eastern No.3. I am still covering the POL section secretary for Eastern No.3 branch who is still off long term sick. In representation I have visited Castle Mall for various issues such as Conduct, Underperforming, and Contractual. There has also been a visit to Bury St.EdmundsCO.
11/08 FSS/PSS. External recruitment for FSS has now been put on hold. The official reason is that the area managers need time to spend with the current FSS to make sure the role is being performed as planned. There is still no sign of when the PSS role will become active.
12/08 Area Management. I have had strategic involvement meetings with Tracey Lloyd, and Kevin Shepherd, Crown Area Managers (CAM)covering Eastern No.4 branch area. I found the meetings useful and have diarised more for early next year.
15/08 Crown Office Staffing Agreement. I have attended joint meetings with POL/CWU on the imminent launch of COSA which is a refreshment of the BOSA agreement detailing most of our working practices. The agreement is available to view on: it is also hoped to get a printed copy into every CO when dispatched from CWU HQ. POL will want to increase the use of the flexibility clause for full-timers and so it is important that CWU members start to use the timesheets that have in places have fallen out of use. It is important to note that banked time should be signed off by staff and management every week. The standard timesheet is available at Annex A of the COSA.
16/08 Postshops. POL announced plans to convert many Postshops in the refurbishment plan, then following that an agreement was announced in upskilling Postshop workers which is currently out to ballot. This will give a considerable pay increase for those workers wanting to be trained to counter standard, or voluntary redundancy for those that prefer to leave the business.
BanburyCO.A visit should have taken place between writing this report and presenting it.
Bishops Stortford CO.Kevin Shepherd, Area Manager, is having a training day with staff at Bishop Stortford to emphasise the importance of the sales culture. I have been invited to attend.
CambridgeCO. The office relocation proposal appears to have slowed due to legal technicalities, and implications of the current economic climate.
DunmowCO. No reported problems.A visit to this office is due.
HarlowCO. Bureau staffing may need to be looked at in respect of managerial decisions. I attended a long term sick interview with a CWU member, and hope that a rehabilitation duty will follow in due course.
HaverhillCO. A duty review needs to take place to account for my CWU release time.
Leighton Buzzard CO. No reported problems, although the office is short staffed due to the vacancy of the ABM job.
Luton Arndale CO. No reported problems.
Milton Keynes, Crown Walk CO. No reported problems.
NewmarketCO.No reported problems.
OxfordCO. I sadly have to report the death of a CWU member employed at Oxford CO. Helen Croxall unfortunately could not combat her cancer any longer, it will be a sad loss for her work colleagues. Condolences go to her husband and family. Thankfully POL are allowing colleagues to attend Helens funeral to pay their last respects.
StevenageCO. An individuals problem has been noted, and hopefully resolved.
Witney CO. No reported problems.
Tim Pavelin. Section Secretary.
Mob: 07773640595
Office: 01440 766916 / 01440 702041
e-mail:
CWU Eastern No.4 website: