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25 August 2016 | Updated 01 January 1970

The Post Office claims only half of the Communication Workers Union members have voted in ballot for industrial action, with 41 per cent of that number voting in favour of strike action (that would not include the 97 per cent of workers in over 11,600 branches).

The Post Office said that, should action be called, it would be working to minimise disruption to customers in its circa 300 Crown branches, where CWU members work.

The Post Office also said that the CWU’s comments regarding the business’s performance are misleading and that it is committed to keeping its services on high streets and within smaller communities.

Kevin Gilliland, Post Office Network and Sales Director said: “We must continue with our plans to modernise our network and make it better for customers. We are taking the right actions to ensure that Post Office branches thrive for future generations.

“We halved our losses in 2015/16 and are making steady progress in ensuring our business is simpler to run, reducing costs to the taxpayer whilst at the same time modernising our network of over 11,600 branches, which is now at its most stable for decades.

“The CWU’s threat of industrial action can only unsettle customers and employees.

“We will give serious consideration to any ideas that our unions put forward to help us create the Post Office network that our customers need for the future and urge them to continue to work with us. We are happy to talk and continue to invite the CWU to join us at the negotiating table.”

The CWU uses different stats to calculate who and who didn't vote for strike action and has also said the government needs to intervene to sort out a Post Office in crisis.

The union claims its members voted 'overwhelmingly' in favour of strike action following a series of announcements this year of cuts to jobs, services and staff pensions.

The union has warned that the Post Office is on the path to extinction and has said the government must now intervene to avoid strike action.

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 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.

“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.”

CWU Deputy General Secretary (Postal) Terry Pullinger said: “What is needed is product imagination, investment and inspired thinking which we believe can ensure that the Post Office remains a fundamental community and national asset. No one should underestimate our determination to ensure that this is not another British institution which is only spoken about in an historical context. It is and must remain part of this country’s future infrastructure.”

Picture: the Post Office is asking CWU members to come to the negotiating table rather than taking industrial action

Article written by Robin Snow | Published 25 August 2016

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