ZERO Separate Bundle Delivery
- As of today, Australia
Post has stood-down 44
posties from Airport West & Mt Waverley Delivery Centres for standing up for their rights not to take risks with their health & safety by delivering by SBD.
- The first duty of the union is to make sure these posties and their families do not suffer financial distress. We have set up a Welfare Fund, and are asking work-groups and individual members to contribute. A number of Delivery Centres are taking up collections on pay-day or donating their ‘mealies’ and others have voted for a levy. (Please read the leaflet enclosed for details of how to donate. Donations are tax-deductible and receipts will be issued.) Please make sure your workplace is organising collections.
Some posties have decided to trial SBD and are finding that it adds a long time to their outdoor times. There have been several P400’s filled out and many health and safety issues identified. (See box below.) Management is already trying to speed up individuals doing SBD.
The customer service has been appalling in these two areas with up to 10% mis-sorts per round, and several rounds not being delivered at both facilities on a daily basis. Posties are working 12 hour days and spending 7 hours outside delivering. Managers have never been seen to work so hard, as they have been lately. Relievers have been brought in from up to 140 kms and 2 hours away, they are working on Saturdays and even contractors from Hoppers Crossing have been asked (but have refused) to deliver at the two sites.
This is all ridiculous. The rounds of the posties who have been stood down are being delivered in the usual manner. Management is refusing work to all of the 44; work that they are prepared to do in their normal manner. Posties are continuing to hand in “Section 21” letters making it clear that it is on the grounds of an immediate health & safety concern.
There are still dozens of posties who have yet to be ‘tapped on the shoulder’ for SBD at Airport West.
There have been a range of legal and political moves going on.
Legal
The main legal action has been trying to get SBD to arbitration in Fair Work Australia. Australia Post has been dragging the chain as much as they can. We have now passed the Independent Mediation stage. Under our current EBA disputes have to be conciliated and mediated before they can be arbitrated. Australia Post has been refusing to honour the status quo.
The Independent Mediation was conducted in Sydney on September 20 by Justice Michael Kirby. (God was not available.) Australia Post refused to settle the dispute. Justice Kirby then made an excellent but non-binding recommendation that recommends ‘status quo’ and a trial comparing cost, safety & customer service between SBD, and traditional delivery after posties throw off sequenced mail to the V-Sort Frames.
- The Divisional Secretary, Dan Dwyer and the Divisional President, Len Cooper then met with Ahmed Fahour on 22 September and suggested that Ahmed come and meet with a group of the real experts – the posties - about the problems associated with SBD. Ahmed has agreed to meet with a group of posties about SBD early next week.
- It is hoped that Arbitration will begin within 10 days of the Mediation and this will be conducted in Melbourne by Commissioner Roe.
An injunction was sought earlier in the Federal Court to prevent Kavina Grant, a push-bike postie at Western DC from being stood down when she refused to perform SBD on the basis of the over-reaching problems and the effect that was having on her back.
The Divisional office has withdrawn from this Federal court-case as the case is no longer relevant given arbitration is imminent.
Seeking community support
The union is contacting the media, letterboxing the public and lobbying politicians.
- In the mean-time, posties should be looking after their own health and safety. Please follow Safe Operating Procedures (take all your breaks, Stop, Read & then Ride, only do 10kms on the footpath and do not spend more than 5 hours outside delivering.)
Problems
being experienced
with SBD
1.Bag drags on knees, affects steering; 2. Bag makes it hard to mount &
dismount; 3.Bag being further from
handlebars makes steering harder and
heavier; 4.Extra head movements
with
helmet on makes neck sore; 5.Extra
hand movements and getting mail out from under the top compartment make
hands
sore; 6. Extra shoulder/back/arm
movements make shoulder/back, arm sore; 7.
Extra time spent outside delivering make rider tired/fatigued/hungry; 8. Extra time spent outside makes it
hard to have lunch, fill up drink bottle and go to the toilet on round;
9. Posties are delivering at peak
hours
eg. in traffic going to work/school and coming home from work/school; 10. It is difficult to balance the
weights in each pannier bag thus making bike unbalanced; 11.
Posties have to
bend and
twist more to get the bundles out of the panniers as the bundles are
smaller
and there can be twice as many; 12.
There
are many more mis-sorts & missed re-directions; 13.
Signature items are found in the sequenced mail, and have to be
written up in the register book or returned to the Centre for scanning;
14. The mail gets bounced out or
blown
out of bottom compartment; 15. The
small letters get out of sequence bouncing around in the bottom of the
bag with
the large letters; 16. The speedo
can’t
be seen properly; 17. It is
dangerous delivering on hills as 2 hands are needed to extract the mail
from
the bag and hands are taken off the brake; 18.
More exposure to UV; 19. The mail
and the postie get wetter than usual on rainy days.
ZERO Separate Bundle Delivery
POSTIES USING SBD CONTINUE TO BE INJURED
WHILE
OTHERS STAND THEIR GROUND REFUSING TO DO SBD FOR SAFETY REASONS
The continued implementation of SBD by Australia Post is a real cause of great concern to Posties in respect of their safety.
In the last two weeks there have been accidents in every state across Australia involving PDOs on all modes of delivery being trained in and or using SBD.
Even Australia Post's preferred medical practitioners (FNDs) have advised members not to deliver using SBD.
In Queensland an Australia Post doctor lays blame for a Postie's neck pain firmly on recent changes to the delivery process, i.e. SBD.
In Tasmania, Australia Post doctor states that a Postie cannot do SBD because it will exacerbate osteoarthritis - while maintaining there are no problems with single bundle delivery.
Posties around the country are filling in P400 incident forms on problems with SBD despite pressure from management not to complete forms.
Last week in South Australia a PDO collided with a large table that had been located near a footpath whilst conducting SBD on a motorcycle. Another PDO suffered a serious injury whilst being trained on SBD. This PDO's motorcycle collided with an electricity box and he suffered a broken leg. Another Queensland postie was backed over by a car coming out of a driveway.
Meanwhile Posties across Australia have stood their ground refusing to use SBD on safety grounds. Some of these CWU members continue to be stood down while others have been permitted to return to work using usual delivery method. The union is seeking an injunction against one of the stand-downs in the Federal Court on 14 September 2011. On September 20, Justice Michael Kirby will mediate on the SBD dispute which will allow the matter to then be arbitrated in Fair Work Australia.
To read the Experts findings on what's wrong with SBD refer to the Shaw Report . CLICK HERE
ZERO Separate Bundle Delivery
THE
CAMPAIGN CONTINUES
Delivery Centres are still reporting massive opposition to SBD and support for the posties who have been stood down by Australia Post. There is outrage at Post’s tactics in trying to scare posties into doing SBD.
Thirteen posties from Mount Waverley have been stood down for refusing to do SBD delivery – Post claiming ``industrial action’’. Australia Post managers put these posties through an interview process questioning their views on SBD ( this is an unsigned interview so extensive notes should be taken as a record). Every postie – without prompting – has been clear and concise – yes there are safety concerns, yes there are immediate safety concerns and yes there are plenty of them. Among those stood down include a PDO who was injured using SBD during the trial last year and another who has work restrictions from a previous accident.
Despite threats of not being paid, more posties each day at Mount Waverley continue to hand in Section 21 letters and refuse to do SBD. If posties aren’t paid money is being collected on sites through levy’s, raffles and donations to supplement the wages of those stood down.
A solidarity BBQ happened at Mount Waverley this week. A weekly raffle will be happening there. Richmond and Western have organised weekly levys. And a big band fundraiser is being planned to bring postal workers together and raise some money on October 8 – put the date in your diary. Every cent donated and raised will go to support any member stood down over refusing SBD.
The
word is getting out to other unions and the media is starting to get
interested.
As community postcards start to get delivered the broader community
will start
to become aware of what Post is trying to do.
- volunteers to deliver the community postcards
- small teams to visit local politicians
- organisers to plan and build the event on October 8
- helpers to organise fundraising in their centres; call the CWU office 9600 9100 if you can help.
POST
TACTICS AT MOUNT WAVERLEY
Australia
Post are trying to cover for their actions of standing posties down by
bringing
in relievers. But the strain is showing. Few posties in the last two
days have
been asked to do SBD and Post are avoiding asking those posties they
know will
refuse. A clear sign the network is straining trying to cover these
rounds. The
vast majority of these rounds are still being done single bundle
delivery by
relievers!!
Kavina Grant, Western Delivery Centre pushbike postie, is back on her round doing single bundle delivery. This follows an adjournment for a week of the injunction hearing – so the matter will continue next Wednesday.
Kavina has had great support from the members at Western Delivery Centre with nearly every person putting in for a voluntary levy to put toward Kavina’s wages if she doesn’t get paid. The encouragement and personnel support has been great with meeting attendance growing and confidence of members on the up.
The
court result is a start but court action is likely to continue for some
time
and is unlikely to give us everything we want. This means we can’t rely
on
court action to solve our issues for us we need to continue to firmly
put our
ideas out there and campaign to win.
Australia
Post continue to wrongly claim that refusal to do SBD is illegal
industrial
action. They fail to recognize the safety concerns that exist that were
detailed in the Shaw report. PDO’s doing SBD will have to:
- Spend longer out on their round than they currently do increasing fatigue
- Sort mail while delivering taking attention away from what is happening around them
- Greater round time means exposure to extreme weather and traffic accidents
- Put up with extra twisting turning and bending leading to strains
- Delivering at more
dangerous times, for example, school drop off and pick up
times.
If Australia
Post attempt to introduce Separate Bundle Delivery at your centre call
the
ZERO Separate Bundle Delivery
KAVINA GRANT RETURNS TO WORK
Australia Post have given the undertaking that Kavina Grant is to return to work today and NOT be directed to perform SBD until this matter returns to court on Wednesday 14th September at 2.15pm
These risks have been detailed, along with other concerns, in the Shaw Report, a health and safety study on SBD by independent health and safety consultants. The study observed and interviewed 49 participants in three states in a trial of SBD. Australia Post ignored the increase in risk and continues to pursue the implementation of SBD, relying on the workplace safety agency Comcare to push it through.
ZERO Separate Bundle Delivery
Post try to squash your rights. Stand together!
Letters stating health and safety problems with SBD continue to get filled out and handed in despite Australia Post being heavy handed. Last week 6 posties were sent home after exercising their health and safety rights.Post are wrongly calling the actions of posties "industrial action" whereas posties were 100% clear that SBD is a safety condern and that they are exercising their rights by declining work that makes their job less safe. All posties presented for alternative duties, all wanted to deliver the mail but all stated with clear reasons why SBD increases the risk to safety.
Mother of two Kavina Grant, a postie from Western Delivery Centre, was stood down on September 1st after Kavina refused to deliver SBD on a pushbike round. Kavina hasn't been on a bike for years and only recently returned from maternity leave. She has previously suffered a back injury.
Western Delivery Centre posties are collecting money to support Kavina if she doesn't get paid. Messages of support can be sent to: Scottylew2002@yahoo.com.au
Five posties from Mount Waverley were ordered from the workplace on September 2nd and then threatened with the police to get them out of the centre. That morning the posties made it clear they were not going to deliver by SBD on safety grounds. Team leaders and managers continually intimidated the posties trying to get them to do SBD but the posties stood strong.
The heavy handed Australia Post response is clearly aimed at scaring other posties into doing SBD rather than sticking to their "health and safety" rights. Now is the time to make it clear to Post we are serious about defending our rights and won't be intimidated into giving them away!
Again and again the posties made it clear their stand was not industrial action but genuine and very real safety concers particularly around extra time outside in the elements and without facilites, added stress through extra bending and twisting, the distraction of merging the mail outside and concern over previous injuries.
Posties were clear this was their own health and safety concers not just a Union campaign. All actions of Australia Post and individual managers and team leaders are being looked at legally. While this is happening the real campaign is to build support for those who have taken a stand, support one another and get rid of SBD. Messages and donations to the posties can be forwarded through the office.
REMINDER
Australia Post like to remind everyone that Comcare have given limited approval for SBD implementation. Comcare's approval however is a joke. Comcare states itself "we have never observed SBD taking place". They also admit that SBD increases risks. The Shaw report observed and interviewed 49 posties across 3 states to reach the conclusion that SBD HAD MANY SAFETY PROBLEMS AND SHOULD NOT BE IMPLEMENTED. Once again time to remind Post about their duty of care to their employees!
INTERSTATE
Tom Richardson in Tasmania stood his ground under huge pressure from Post last week when they stood him down for refusing to deliver by SBD. He had done the training but then refused to deliver saying it was dangerous. Messages of support flooded in from around the country. After a week Tom is back delivering his round as normal without SBD.
A postie from Clontarf DC in Queensland had a serious accident while doing SBD training. The trainer had just left him alone when his motorcycle slipped and hit a kerbside electricity box. He has a broken leg and is having surgery on it.
In South Australia a motorcycle postie doing SBD rode into a table near the footpath left out for hard rubbish collection. It is unclear how extensive the injuries are at this point. Clearly warnings need to be issued about distractions around posties - such as Separate Bundle Delivery outside!!
These incidents show that despite the very limited use of SBD the injury toll is mounting.
If SBD turns up at your centre; CONTACT
Ray Gorman 0438 379 753, Brendan Henley 0400 071 716,
Shirley Winton 0407 515 841, Cindy Shelley 0407 334 397,
Leroy Lazarus 0422 546 814, CWU Office 9600 9100
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