MANAGEMENT IN CONFIDENCE
25. If not, the local Post Office manager should then contact the addressee and make arrangements for him to collect the mail from the Post Office. Departments may agree to collect their mail from the sorting office themselves. If only a few bags of mail are involved private cars should be used but official vans or hired transport will be needed for larger quantities.
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26. Should local managers consider that drivers of mail vans are being deterred by picketing which is being conducted beyond legal limits, they may in accordance with the advice in paragraph 20 above seek the assistance of the local police where that seems likely to contribute to a solution.
ADMINISTRATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF INDUSTRIAL ACTION
27. Establishment officers have agreed that it would be useful for departments to have a statement of the main implications for personnel administration of participation by civil servants in any form of industrial action, in terms suitable for wider distribution in whole or in part. Such a statement is attached at Appendix A. The following paragraphs elaborate on the points set out in the statement.
Pay
28. Staff are paid for work performed during the hours and in accordance with the conditions stipulated for their grade. It follows automatically that if work is not so performed and if the reason for non-performance is not due to industrial action by others (see paragraph 7) or does not fall within one of the stated exceptions (annual leave, sick leave etc), no pay should be forthcoming. Thus the period of non-performance is not "actual service attracting pay". It is in the long term interest of management, especially in those departments which work a lot of overtime, that the principle of no work, no pay, should be maintained as firmly as possible (eg in the event of a protest meeting lasting an hour or more, pay should be deducted). An hour is the snortest period of stoppage in practice and computer programming should proceed on that basis. In general, periods of less than one hour should be ignored, although in the event of a campaign of stoppages, each lasting less than an hour, the possibility of adding up such stoppages over a period of time may have to be re-examined centrally. For periods of more than an hour, pay stoppages should be calculated by rounding down to the nearest hour.
29. In calculating by the hour the amount of pay to be withheld, the method used should be that in Estacode D b 7. However, not more than a day's pay calculated in accordance with the rules in Estacode C g 3 (for monthly-paid staff) and C g 7 (for weekly-paid staff) should be deducted in respect of any days of absence.
30. For monthly-paid staff, pay should be withheld in respect of Saturdays, Sundays, Public and Privilege Holidays occurring within the period of strike action, but not where they immediately precede or follow the period of strike action. Scheduled rest days for staff working shift rotas should be treated in the same way as Saturdays and Sundays for staff working a normal 5-day week.
Back pay
31. In the case of a retrospective pay award only complete days of unauthorised absence should be recorded to reduce the period for which back pay is due.
Overtime
32. Overtime is payable (to eligible grades) for hours worked under normal arrangements in excess of weekly conditioned hours. The period of a strike which is treated as "unpaid absence" does not count towards the completion of conditioned hours. Hence any overtime which may be worked during the week in which a strike is held will attract payment at plain time rate only until conditioned hours have been completed, le any hours of overtime on days of the week when there is no strike must count in the first place towards the completion of conditioned hours for the week.
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MANAGEMENT IN CONFIDENCE