Following the ratification by Unite and CWU members in Romec of the Agreement on the Future Provision of Facilities Management Services to Royal Mail, we are pleased to say that on 31 March 2016 Royal Mail Group acquired the 49 per cent of facilities manager Romec Limited (Romec) that it does not already own from ENGIE (formerly Cofely Workplace Limited). This follows a strategic review into the future of the joint venture (JV). Under the terms of the transaction, Romec is now a fully owned company within Royal Mail Group. This will allow the complex governance arrangements of Romec to be simplified, provide for a better fit with Royal Mail’s own priorities and opportunities to look afresh at how certain activities are conducted in order to ensure that they are as efficient as possible. The transaction means that the provisions of the agreement will now come into effect.

The joint working group that has been meeting since early 2015 to discuss the future ownership of Romec will continue in being with a new remit to oversee the implementation of the agreement. The same principles of cooperation and engagement that led to a successful outcome to the earlier talks will apply. It will be called the Forward Together Group and will continue to have the advice and support of Peter Thompson as an external member.  We will provide updates of outputs from the group from time to time. Normal arrangements for consultation and negotiation within Romec over day to day matters will continue as usual.

One of the priorities for the Forward Together Group is to look at the issues and areas of Romec identified in the agreement for further review, and these reviews are commencing.  They cover the non -core areas of Romec, step change improvements in engineering efficiencyand also new approaches to industrial and employee relations. The intention of the reviews is to shape the development of Romec in a way that takes full account of input from the unions about the future before decisions are made that impact on Romec employees.

As always, there will be some changes going forward, but the priority will be to ensure that these are managed in a way that takes full account of input from trades union partners and which manages the people impact of change as fairly as possible. In the meantime the day to day management of Romec under Keith Gawthorn as MD remains unchanged.

The support of everyone in Romec over the difficult period of uncertainty about the future of the company is well understood and appreciated. This is now a new chapter in Romec’s history and we jointly intend to help shape it together, with your continued support.

21 April 2016