AGM Policy
The Branch Annual General Meeting on 26th February 2009 carried a motion by a large majority which was directed to the PCS DWP Group Executive Committee to carry out the following (the following text being the conclusion of the motion):
“Conference therefore instructs the incoming GEC to continue to work with the Branch concerned with an aim to campaign, if still required, for the following:
- That there is adequate staffing in the DCPU and that this increase in staffing is not by stripping other areas of their staffing
- That the terms of the pilot on preference and availability are honoured by the employer
- That there is removal of extensions of the Turrets working i.e. earlier than 10 am or later than 4 pm.
- That there is an agreed maximum number of hours per week/ month that anyone can work on the Turrets.”
The Branch has undertaken a further round of desk top ballots and the results of which have been forwarded to the negotiators to raise with the employer and have been published to the members. We intend to undertake another round of desk top ballots in September.
The latest round of members’ ballots in May 2009 showed that there had been a slide away from compliance with the Joint Statements on the Turrets, surrounding the Preference and Availability aspects.
Once again I would just like to reiterate the definitions of preference and availability. ‘Availability’ means the period of time you are in the office, and is clarified in the first agreed joint statement as “recognising the different working patterns of staff (some preferring to work early, others late and other patterns.” ‘Preference’ means the time you would prefer to work on turrets. The two terms are separate issues and should not be confused or blurred. Whereas preferences cannot always be met, availability should always be. This is also clarified in the agreed joint statement as it states that staff should “not feel coerced into working times which do not meet their stated availability.” Therefore, if a slot cannot be filled through availability (or preference), then it should be reported to Helpline as being ‘unfilled’. This has been agreed by Senior Management.
Return to the 80% to 20% split between Helpline and Ops.
Part of the agreed joint statements was the statement of intent from the employer to return to the previous percentage level of calls between Helpline and DCPU Ops. This is known as the 80/20 split. As explained at meetings this is important in terms of trying to resolve some of the other points above including the staffing levels in Helpline and also the 4pm to 5pm working and also the maximum number of hours per week/month that anyone can work on the Turrets.We have been pressing for the 80/20 split to return and have monitored the figures supplied by the employer which indeed have been positive with this being achieved in every week since May 2009 except for one week in August when it hit 21%. Taken from where we began with around a third of calls, and up to half at some times, being taken by Turrets staff this is a significant achievement particularly given the jobs cuts around the Department.
We are still pressing for resolution on the 4pm to 5pm and the maximum number of hours.
There was a meeting on Wednesday 9th September 2009 to look at the items above and hopefully progress them. We considered the 4pm to 5pm slot and although Senior Management were reluctant to withdraw their requirement for cover at this time they did recognise that they wouldn’t always need as many staff as they do now and at some times they would not need any. With this in mind they are looking to reduce the present requirement of 44 staff to 22 staff with a view to reducing further if call traffic allows. They did say that it is unlikely they would be able to reduce from 44 staff on Mondays in recognition that this had the highest levels of call traffic. We welcomed this movement towards our stated aim.
We also discussed the maximum number of hours staff should work on Turrets. The employer’s experience suggests that staff don’t work more than 20% of their time available on the turrets except in periods of peak leave or other unexpected staff absences. Senior Management indicated that there will be some staff who are content to work more on the turrets and whilst Senior Management would not consider a maximum number of hours at this time we agreed that there was a prospect of an agreed joint statement reflecting the percentage of time spent on turrets during different times of the year.
If you have any issues surrounding the Turrets hours, the agreements and preference and availability then please contact Emma Haslehurst (Deputy Secretary) or Dean Rhodes (Assistant Secretary).
