| Some 4,000 Post Office employees are today on strike over job losses, pensions and the future of the Post Office itself. More than 3,000 CWU members (working in offices, admin and the supply chain) will be joined by 720 Unite members (workers as managers) in taking action for 24 hours. CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “The Post Office is now at crisis point – it needs a new strategy as a matter of urgency. No-one is thinking of the future. This isn’t good for workers, it isn’t good for customers and it isn’t good for the future of the business. The CWU will not simply stand by and see another British Industry destroyed. “We have a simple demand – that the government pauses the cuts and brings stakeholders together for a structured period of talks to develop a plan that is about more than managing the decline of the service – our members and the public deserve nothing less.” Unite’s Brian Scott said: “We believe today is the day when most people will be despatching their cards and parcels to their relatives and friends abroad. We are taking this action because the management refuses to talk in a constructive manner about the pension scheme which is currently in surplus to more than £143 million. “This is the retirement income of our members which is at stake and we are not going to stand idly by and let them lose thousands of pounds when they retire. “More generally, it appears that it is only the unions that care about the future viability of the Post Office and the services it provides for communities across the UK. “The management seems to have abdicated its responsibility and as the government ultimately owns the Post Office we call, once again, for junior business minister Margot James to order an investigation into the Post Office’s future and what we consider is a catalogue of managerial incompetence.” |