ZERO Separate Bundle Delivery
The union is mounting a campaign at the local,
State and National levels to stop Australia Post introducing
Separate Bundle Delivery (SBD) because it is unsafe.
The first part of the campaign is focusing on getting the Zero SBD message from posties to the more senior levels of Australia Post management in the hope that they will listen to the safety concerns of their workers.
The postcard campaign to Ahmed Fahour has been rolled out in all States and hundreds of postcards are returning to Australia Post Headquarters. Enterprising posties are sending them or personal letters using the “Person to Person” option. If you haven’t sent yours, please do so. If you can’t afford a stamp, give it to your shop-steward to forward to the union office. We need 10,000 to go in from all the posties around Australia.
Posters and stickers have also been distributed. You will find a sticker enclosed in this envelope. If you want more ring the union office: 9600 9100.
We
had a noisy Posties
Protest outside
Australia Post Headquarters at 111 Bourke
Street, Melbourne
on 17 August 2011 with over 150 posties attending from a wide range of
Delivery
Centres.
EXERCISING
YOUR
RIGHTS NOT TO TAKE OH&S RISKS
In Victoria, there has been minimal ‘Train the Trainer’ activity going on with a handful of Team Leaders being trained at Western, Mt Waverley and Preston DCs. The message ‘that workers have a right to invoke s 21 of the OHS (Commonwealth Employment) Act if they are asked to perform work involving increased risks’ has been delivered to all the sites that have Sequenced mail.
A number of training sessions have been cancelled or postponed, and management seemed to have now resorted to a softening up process whereby posties are being asked in for ‘little chats’ and then threatened that they may be ‘coded’ if they refuse SBD. Our advice is to ask for it in writing, and to tell management it is ‘adverse action’ if they disadvantage anyone in their employment for highlighting a safety risk. The union will seek redress in Fair Work Australia immediately if management actually do more than threaten.
Remember
that when you are in dispute with
management you
have a right to have a union representative present. All organisers are
on
stand-by to attend if needed.
WHAT’S
HAPPENING
IN OTHER STATES
In NSW, the union has asked Australia Post to ‘please explain’ why the health & safety issues already raised by the union members in NSW Delivery Centres have not been addressed.
In QLD & WA, there have been reports that Trainers have been telling posties: “Don’t worry you will still be able to read and ride using SBD” despite this being totally unsafe. One Trainer praised the SBD Delivery Bag’s clear cover as “you can read the mail as you ride along.”!!!
In SA ten Delivery Centres have been Sequenced and are being threatened with SBD.
In
Tasmania, three people have been trained as
trainers and
one of these thought it was unsafe so pulled out. He is being bullied
and
threatened. Messages of support can be texted to his union delegate on
0411 154
911 or emailed to glennhaas@bigpond.com
We are asking for volunteers initially in Sequenced DCs to letterbox these to customers after their work or on the week-end.
We
are also asking for volunteers to contact
their local
newspapers about
the
issue, and
to visit their local
Federal Members of
Parliament.
These
appointments will
usually take place on a Friday afternoon. Please ring Chris Spindler on
049 806
866 or Joan Doyle on 0419 3134 if you can get involved in these
activities.
ZERO Separate Bundle Delivery
CAMPAIGN UPDATE: 2
COMCARE
On
August 9, Australia Post issued a
Staff Information Bulletin
that claims that SBD is a Comcare
approved approach.
The Bulletin claims that Australia Post has been working with the Communication Workers Union (also known as the CEPU) on SBD. You need to be clear that the union at the local, State Branch level and the Divisional or national level, is totally opposed to the introduction of Separate Bundle Delivery.
While both Australia Post and the union referred SBD to Comcare, the union has grave concerns about how the matter was dealt with by Comcare.
On the back of this Bulletin, we have reproduced a summary of the response to Comcare’s findings by the authors of the Shaw Report on Separate Bundle Delivery. Please take time to read it.
These experts note that Comcare never saw Separate Bundle Delivery in action, and that they accepted all of Australia Post’s data without validating it. Comcare’s approach will be challenged in Fair Work Australia.
SECTION 21
The Commonwealth Occupational Health and Safety Act allows you to refuse to do the SBD system if you personally believe it is a risk to your health and safety.
“Section 21 of the OHS (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991
Duties
of employees in relation to occupational health and safety
(1)
An employee must, at all times while at work, take all reasonable steps:
(A)
To ensure that the employee does not take any action, or make any
omission,
that creates a risk, or increases an
existing risk, to the health and safety of the employee, or of other
persons
(whether employees or not) at or near the place at which the employee
is at
work…”
THE NEXT STEPS
All that has happened so far is that Australia Post has trained 7 Team Leaders and one PDO as Trainers.
- If your are asked to perform SBD, you can provice whoever asks you with a Section 21 letter. You can also refuse to discuss the matter until you have a union representative present. If Australia Post attempts to introduce the SBD system at your Centre call the union IMMEDIATELY on 9600 9100.
- Send Ahmed a post-card. Give it to your shop-steward, and we will deliver it en masse.
- Attend the POSTIES PROTEST on SBD on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 3pm at Australia Post Headquarters, 111 Bourke Street, Melbourne.
Prepared by Andrea Shaw, Dr Rwth Stuckey, Philip Meyer*
1. Comcare has not used the duty of care
Comcare has not looked at whether Australia Post has taken “all reasonably practicable steps to protect the health and safety at work of the employer’s employees” (Part 2, Division 1, 16(1)). Comcare has introduced a whole new approach to deciding whether an employer is meeting their legal obligations, just for Australia Post.
2. Comcare has not used the hierarchy of control
Australia Post has only used administrative controls for the major risks resulting from SBD, yet Comcare has concluded that Australia Post’s response is “sound and appropriate”.
3. Comcare has not done its own risk assessment
Comcare’s analysis does not meet the requirements of their own legislation – they haven’t looked at the nature of the job, the layout of the workplace, the posture and movements required, etc. In fact, they didn’t observe the work at all. They’ve never seen SBD in action!
4. Comcare has not used their own manual handling guidance to look at SBD
The CEPU commissioned risk assessment used the Comcare manual handling risk assessment tool and found significant manual handling risks from SBD. Comcare used the assessment sponsored by AP that did not use the tool and did not cover all of the risks involved to conclude that SBD can go ahead.
5. Comcare has accepted Australia Post’s injury statistics
Comcare uses the injury statistics provided by Australia Post to support their claim that there has not been an increase in injuries because of SBD.
6. Comcare has accepted Australia Post’s estimate of the time needed for SBD
The Australia Post sponsored estimate of the time required for SBD contains a number of errors. When these are corrected, both the Australia Post and the CEPU sponsored analyses show that there is a large increase in the time needed to deliver mail using SBD – around 40%. The only way to have achieved the times recorded by Australia Post during the SBD trial is by posties taking short cuts, such as speeding, reading and riding, etc.
7. Comcare has denied the problem of read and ride
PDOs have to read while they are controlling their vehicles for SBD to work. But Comcare says that “read and ride behaviour was reported as almost impossible”! We observed read and ride behaviour at each of the pilot depots and it will be absolutely necessary if the times for delivery are to be less than 40% more than current times
8. Comcare has not considered the extra workload required for SBD
Comcare
did not
take into account the extra workload required, eg because of having to
throw
off upside down and then having to read upside down during
delivery. This was deliberately excluded from the Australia
Post assessment. Reading upside down is a totally different task and
adds
considerably to the workload.
These experts were the authors of the Shaw Report on Separate Bundle Delivery. This is a concise version of their response to Comcare’s findings.
For the full version please contact your State Branch – 1800 102 360
VICTORIAN RESULTS (click here)
NATIONAL RESULTS (click here)
The Victorian
Communication Workers
Union P&T Branch has moved to the Federal Office.
Our new address:
1st Floor
139 Queensberry Street, Carlton.
Other contact details remain the same.
Our phone:
1800 222 609 for
country members
Our fax:
03 9600 9133
Postal address:
P.O. Box 1052,
North Melbourne 3051
Email: office@vicpt.cepu.asn.au