Strikers collect signatures while panicking managers play

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Strikers collect signatures while panicking managers play musical chairs

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Striking CWU members yesterday collected thousands of signatures on petitions to save Crown Post Offices across the UK.

As members of the public queued to sign the petitions outside post offices from Sunderland to Durham, Rhyl to Didsbury, Falkirk to Holloway, Liskeard and beyond, hundreds of panicking managers were sent across the country in an attempt to keep some offices open.

UnionNews understands five managers from Glasgow were sent on a 160-mile round trip to Dundee, while a manager from Dundee was sent on a 280-mile round trip to Inverness, and put up in a hotel overnight. Mangers from London are also believed to have been sent around the country, including the 214 miles to Bootle.

A spokesperson for the union said: “The Post Office again sent hundreds of managers across the country in an attempt to keep some offices open. Despite this expensive course of action, services were severely disrupted with managers unable to carry out some basic tasks such as selling lottery tickets or travel money.

“These offices which were counted ‘open’ by the company in many cases opened late, closed for lunch and closed early. We think the Post Office should spend less money on sending managers across the country and instead focus on trying to resolve the dispute.”

CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward said: “Our members have again overwhelmingly supported strike action against the Post Office’s closure and franchise plans and in support of a pay rise. The rejection of the Post Office’s position is unshaken and is bolstered by fantastic support from customers and communities which value post offices.

“The Post Office still can’t get its numbers right. They tell the public it’s losing £40 million but tell us it’s £37m. But these are the same people who got our pay claim wrong by £6m so we’re not convinced we can trust their figures.

“The Post Office says its pay offer is fair – it couldn't be further from the truth. For starters it’s entirely conditional on accepting 76 Crown closures and loss of over 800 Crown jobs. Lump sums are non-pensionable, pro-rata and extremely speculative for this year and next. Staff know this and that’s why they rejected it in an independent ballot by 9-1.

“The Post Office is also being disingenuous on its queue-time claims. The research it points to on franchises is its own research, it’s not independent at all – unlike the research we reference.

“It’s now time for Paula Vennells – the absent Post Office CEO – to take an interest, listen to her staff and customers and come to the negotiating table.

“The responsible position should be to seek to have negotiations and get around the table to resolve this dispute. Staff, customers, the CWU, town councils and MPs are all calling for alternatives to protect Crown offices. There’s lots we could do but not while the Post Office management hide away and throw money at strike-breaking rather than engaging with the people who value their service so much. If the Post Office wish to avoid further strike action they should come to the negotiating table.”

[Wessex]

The manager of our local Post Office situated at the back of our local newsagents is on ,I have been reliably informed, a princely £6.40 an hour with no pension or perks.

This is what will happen to the pay and conditions of staff from our Crown PO's if the government (lib-dems) have their way.