Please see the enclosed report from the Rationalisation Sub Committee of the NEC  which was approved at the last NEC meeting.  I would be obliged if you would respond to the circular with the views of your Committee by 24th of March.

It is the expectation of the NEC that the issue will be debated at conference.

Rationalisation Sub-Committee Report
Prior to 1998 eircom was divided into 8 Districts each one having its own District Manager, Personnel Manager etc. These Districts were responsible for running their own affairs and the Union's District Branches, Clerical and Admin Branches and Telephones Branches dealt with District Management for both Industrial Relations and the Change Agenda.

In 1998 Telecom Eireann was faced with unprecedented change to its structure and its trading position. It was moving from a Semi-State organisation to a PLC following the Government's decision to float Telecom Eireann on the Stock Exchange. It was also moving from a virtual monopoly situation into a liberalised market with intense competition driven by regulatory change and technological advances. The Company, the Government and the Trade Unions all agreed on the fact that Telecom Eireann needed to accelerate the transformation of the company if it was to survive in this new environment. The Company and the Trade Unions drafted an agreement called The Telecom Partnership (Big Blue Book) which was a framework agreement for the transformation of Telecom Eireann into a world class telecommunications business.

The main theme of the Telecom Partnership was that both parties agreed to adopt a new change process to replace the traditional adversarial Industrial Relations model to enable key changes to be implemented rapidly to meet business needs. It meant that issues such as pay, employment conditions, discipline etc would remain in the IR forum but all of the change agenda would be processed in a new Partnership Forum. Details of the above are contained in pages 9 - 25 ofthe Telecom Partnership Agreement. Page 19 refers to a Local Partnership Group being set up in each District consisting of local management (including the District Manager) and not more than six Union reps. The main function ofthis group was to implement change at local level.

In 2002/03 eircom moved from a District Structure to a Regional Structure and by 2006 it had moved to separate national structures for Core and Access Networks, incorporating Core Network Build, Core Network Field Force, Access Network Build, Access Network Service Delivery and Access Network Service Assurance. The CWU Branch structure remained the same as it was working well and it didn't make sense to keep changing the Branch structure to mirror image the Company structure, particularly when the Company structure changes so often. This has however presented its own set of challenges for Branches and Sections trying to deal with management in eircom. Many Branch Officers now feel that their role has been diminished and that with loss of local partnership they are finding it difficult to gain access to managers who are willing to address member's problems. This in turn has led to an increase in the workload of the Officials in CWU HQ which in its turn impacts on the focus necessary for national issues.

The Rationalisation Sub-Committee invites submissions from Branches outlining how they operate in the new environment and identifying any problems and possible solutions in order to enhance the operation of all our Scale A Branches and Sections.