Post Office workers vote to strike

The Communication Union said 83. per cent of its members who took part in a ballot have voted to strike.

General Secretary of the CWU Dave Ward said: “Staff in the Post Office face 2,000 job losses this year, the closure of their pension scheme and a strategy of slash and burn from the board of the company.

“The Post Office is at crisis point and the government has to step in.”

The union is calling on the Government to intervene, saying the Post Office was “on the path to extinction.”

He continued: “The government separated the Post Office from Royal Mail and declared it would be safe in public hands.

“In reality we have seen public funding being withdrawn, falling from £210m in 2013 to £80m this year, and a complete failure from the board to grow its revenues to make up for this.

“Staff and customers are the ones who are paying the cost.”

“We have a very simple demand. The government has to step in, convene a summit of key stakeholders and hammer out with us and the board a strategy that will give the Post Office a future. It cannot wash its hands of this and simply stand by as a national institution goes under. Just as we have seen with Tata steel, this is another clear example of the government having no plan whatsoever to stand up for British industry.”