Fears of Christmas postal chaos as thousands of Post Office workers plan five-day walk out over pensions dispute

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Fears of Christmas postal chaos as thousands of Post Office workers plan five-day walk out over pensions dispute

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Counter staff union members to walk out on December 19, 20 and 24
Cash-handlers and money deliverers will strike on December 22 and 23
4,000 workers are involved in the walk out over pensions and job losses
300 post offices will close or operate a skeleton service during that week

Thousands of Post Office workers are planning to cause chaos at Christmas with a five-day strike.

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) who work as counter staff plan to walk out for three days on December 19, 20 and 24. Their fellow members who are cash-handlers and deliver money to post office branches will call a 48-hour strike for December 22 and 23, according to the CWU.

The combined industrial action across the country will involve more than 4,000 workers and will result in 300 larger post offices closing entirely or operating a skeleton service during Christmas week.

Hundreds more smaller branches, many in rural areas, will struggle to operate because they will not receive their usual cash delivery.

Union bosses have warned that the strikes, which are over branch closures, job losses and the ending of a final salary pension scheme, will disrupt deliveries.

Andrew Furey, assistant general secretary of the CWU, said: ‘It will be absolute chaos in the lead-up to Christmas because it’s prime time for deliveries. The main impact will be on parcels and packages.’

He warned that the walkout by the cash-handlers would be equally devastating. ‘People will be taking out money, they will be paying for parcels and some of the post offices have got bureaux de change. People will turn up at the branches and they will be closed as they will have no cash.’

The walkouts will be the fourth since the CWU balloted members in August and 85 per cent voted in favour of industrial action.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU
Both the Post Office and Royal Mail insist that last posting dates for Christmas deliveries will not be affected by the strike action planned by the Communication Workers Union.

To ensure items reach their destinations in time, second-class letters and parcels should be posted by Tuesday, December 20.

First-class post must be sent by Wednesday, December 21.

Royal Mail say they will be delivering up to and including Christmas Eve, which this year falls on a Saturday.

Yesterday saw the third strike, with more than 3,000 workers taking to picket lines.

The CWU expects its strike plans to be rubber-stamped by its National Executive Committee on Tuesday. The union has defended its decision to strike at Christmas, saying it is trying to save jobs and branches, and that 6,000 post offices have closed since 2002. But Tory MP Grant Shapps, who has campaigned against closures, branded the CWU’s five-day stoppage ‘crazy’.

He said: ‘Given that this dispute is in part about post office closures, taking action which deliberately closes branches is a spectacular own goal at Christmas time, when people will be relying on the post office service.’

The Government has previously defended its decision to ‘restructure’ the Post Office to try to halt huge losses – which were running at £40 million a year up to 2013.

Kevin Gilliland, Post Office network and sales director, insisted that even if the Christmas strike went ahead, the majority of branches would remain open. He said: ‘We have not received any formal notification of action from our unions and, should further action be taken, we can reassure our customers that at least 97 per cent of our network will be open for business as usual.

‘We are disappointed the unions are trying to unsettle customers as they prepare for Christmas, rather than engaging with us in talks to find a constructive way forward which will enable the Post Office to thrive for the long term.’

[Surreypostie]

‘We are disappointed the unions are trying to unsettle customers as they prepare for Christmas, rather than engaging with us in talks to find a constructive way forward which will enable the Post Office to thrive for the long term.’

What is the point of talking to a company that has already decided what the outcome will be? Best time to hurt the company is now. After christmas they won't give a damn and neither will the public.