REPRESENTING WORKERS IN TELECOMS, ENGINEERING, FINANCIAL SERVICES, RETAIL & ADMINISTRATION

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Take a read of the round-up of this year's CWU Telecoms and Financial Services conference by our branch's Women's Officer, Roisin Woods.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MOTIONS THAT WERE DEBATED AT THIS YEARS T&FS CONFERENCE AND THE OUTCOMES

TAKE A LOOK AT OUR BRANCH OFFICALS TALKING AT THIS YEARS CWU CONFERENCE

Look out next week for our write up of the conference and find out which motions got carried and which fell.

The Great Western Branch Speaking at this years CWU Conference

THE RESULTS ARE IN

See the voting outcomes from this years AGM

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS YEARS OFFICER REPORTS

Find out what the branch has been upto over the last 12 months. Read Reports from each Officer, where they document the work they have carried out in relation to their rolls and Officer positions since that last AGM.

Take a look at this years AGM Agenda and Proposition

Celebrating International Women's Day with the CWU at Bristol Assembly

Join the CWU Great Western Branch on Thursday 5th March at Bristol Assembly to Celebrate International Women's Day. With special guests Karen Rose - CWU Deputy General Secretary & Sara Miah - CWU National Executive Council.

Ramadan - A brief insight to the holiest month of the year for muslims

Learn about Ramadan, from our branches very own Young Workers Officer, Abdul

CWU Great Western Members Invitation to the 2026 Branch AGM

Find out the date, time and location of this years Branch AGM

The 2026 Proposition Form

Propositions for the AGM must be received by the Branch Secretary by post or email (by noon) on the 11^th March 2026. Please see the AGM invite for details of how and where to submit Propsitions.

We will be in Bristol Assemby on Thursday 5th February

Follow the link to see where you'll be able to find us and what times.

Silence Doesn’t Build Solidarity: Time to Talk Day 2026

What is Cervical Cancer?

Click the link to find out more.

• Symptoms to look out for
• Symptom diary
• The Smear test: What it is and why it matters
• Available support

Disability Awareness Month (20 November to 20 December) is an annual opportunity to reflect on disability inclusion, challenge stigma, improving accessibility, and ensuring compliance with employment and equalities law. This month encourages employers and employees to understand more about the barriers disabled people face — both visible and invisible — and how workplaces can remove these barriers.

Today Openreach announced they would be opening up a VPL scheme for certain parts of Openreach, they had consulted the Union of its intention. The Union do not have a say to what LOBs the VPL is offered or who will be accepted to get VPL. This is a voluntary company scheme and not Redundancy. If you have any questions about today’s announcement please contact your branch and they will be able to help with any issues.

Visit our Mens Officer page

Learn more about our Mens Officers fundraising for Movember. Also find more information about the physical and mental health challenges men face , including advice and useful links and contacts.

SHARE YOURS

Are you taking part in Movember? Please send us your moustache progress photos and your links to your fund raising pages and we will share them to our website. Or you can help support our Branch Mens Officer fundraising campaign via the link.

FTTP ATTENDANCE PATTERNS

Openreach FTTP have served notice on engineers remaining on 4 day week and 9 day fortnight attendance, replacing them with seasonal attendances where in the Winter engineers work a 5 day week. We oppose notice being served and the imposition of attendances without the agreement of the CWU. This represents a threat across Openreach to the full range of attendances we currently enjoy.

TACKLING WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The CWU Openreach National Team member Lili Savage and Regional Co-Ordinator and Great Western Officer Paul Clark, talk tackling workplace sexual harassment. We break down the new legal duty on employers to prevent harassment before it happens and to not just respond after. We discuss what’s changed, what’s still missing, how do they truly change the culture and what workplaces need to do now to keep staff safe.

IT'S TIME FOR A SHORTER WORKING WEEK

Over the past couple of years, general interest in the idea of a shorter working week has grown. In this country, hundreds of employers have been experimenting with reducing hours for no loss of pay with positive results, including: · Better work/life balance · Lower levels of stress · Lower staff turnover · Greater workplace productivity On this episode of CWU Live, Michael is joined by Deputy General Secretary (Telecoms & Financial Services) Karen Rose and CWU Field Organiser Kevin Leetion.

OPENREACH VEHICLE CHECKS - CAN IT BE DONE?

The CWU Openreach National Team discuss the importance of engineers doing pre use vehicle checks. Openreach are running a campaign to ensure that Pre-use inspection checks are completed by Openreach engineers. Discussions continue with Openreach on improving the Holman app, explaining the checks, and identifying barriers to completing the checks.

VACANT BRANCH POSITIONS

Our Branch B.A.M.E Officer and Learning rep positions are currently vacant. If you're interested and would like to find out more, click the link.

SPECIAL RESTRUCTURING CONFERENCE - BLACKPOOL 28th-29th June 2025

On the 28th and 29th of June our branch sent delegates to attend the CWU Special Restructuring Conference in Blackpool. This was to hear the arguments and vote on the proposed fundamental changes to the rules that govern our Union.

REGISTER NOW!

Points of Contact, are the Eyes, Ears and Voice of the Union in the workplace. Informing and updating their team of important and relevant information affecting their job and area of business. Available to answer questions, get answers and recruit. POCs are able to raise issues and give feedback to the branch to be dealt with locally or passed up the chain to be addressed at a higher level of the Union. Get involved today and help to build the Unions strength and effectiveness.