LTB 362/24 - The Future of Unionline
No 362/24
TO: ALL BRANCHES
Dear Colleague
The Future of Unionline
All Branches will be aware through previous reports that CWU had been involved in a long running dispute with the GMB on the future of Unionline. This was a direct result of the GMB reneging on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was previously agreed to address historic funding imbalances in Unionline and money owed to the CWU from the operation of the company.
Following lengthy discussions, we are pleased to announce that we have now reached a legally binding agreement with the GMB, the salient points of which are as follows:
All key commitments contained in the original MOU have been restored.
An independent financial advisor has found all of the CWU’s assessment of the financial calculations involved to be correct.
The GMB have now transferred the outstanding monies due to the CWU under the original Memorandum of Understanding to Unionline for onward transmission to the CWU.
The GMB have agreed to fund the historic funding imbalance and restore the process in the original MOU for funding the ongoing running costs of Unionline.
CWU and GMB have agreed a clear process to jointly review the effectiveness of Unionline and maximise both parties’ options for the future.
We believe that the agreement also now gives us the opportunity to develop and finalise how we restructure our own Legal Services Department as part of the changes required to secure the future of the CWU.
Finally, the NEC endorsed the terms of the legally binding agreement and we are confident it represents the best outcome for the CWU in resolving this dispute and we look forward to rebuilding our relationship with the GMB.
Any enquiries on the above LTB should be sent to Dave Ward General Secretary jdunn@cwu.org.
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward
General Secretary
Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary
Comments