Post Office branches to be hit by five-day strike
POST Office services in Birmingham could be affected next week – with fears of a knock-on impact on Christmas deliveries – after five days of strike action were announced.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is carrying out the action, which is set to include Christmas Eve, in a dispute over job losses, the closure of a final salary pension scheme and the franchising of crown Post Offices.
Crown branches are managed directly by the Post Office and represent 300 or so of the network’s 11,600 branches, the majority of which are run independently.
There are two of these in Birmingham – the large city centre branch off Victoria Square and another in Kingstanding – which might be running reduced services or even closing during the strike action.
The Post Office said it had been notified of strike action on December 19 and 20, with the latter being the latest recommended date for people sending cards and packages by Royal Mail second class.
CWU was due to hold more talks with the Post Office this week but said it was planning up to five days of industrial action, including December 21, 22 and Christmas Eve, following similar strikes in September and earlier this month.
The Post Office announced plans in April to transfer up to 61 branches into WH Smith stores over the following year although not all of those are crown outlets.
CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey said: “All of the blame for this unfortunate turn of events is 100 per cent down to the intransigence of the company. Our members want the Post Office management to pause its closure and privatisation programme, hold off on its planned pensions changes, and commit to sitting down with us and with the other key stakeholders of this Great British institution and, together, construct a lasting vision. We want to work together to build a positive future for the Post Office, its workforce and, of course, the people who we serve.”
Kevin Gilliland, the Post Office’s network and sales director, said: “We agreed with the CWU that we would resume talks, which have been ongoing throughout the summer, on Wednesday. We are extremely disappointed that they prefer to resort to calls for strike action and we will be reviewing our position in light of this development.”