New walkout to hit West Midlands Crown post offices
Thousands of workers in Crown post offices – including three branches in the West Midlands – are to stage a fresh strike in a row over jobs, pay and closures.
Members of the Communication Workers' Union will walk out for half a day from this Friday, following a strike last month.
The union is campaigning against plans to close or franchise dozens of Crown branches, saying that more than 800 jobs will be affected. Walsall, Willenhall, Cannock and Kidderminster
Crown post offices are on a list of more than 370 due to be hit by strike action.
The walkout is set to begin at 2.30pm. The Communication Workers' Union said more details of the strike action and picket lines will be released later this week and it is not yet clear how many members will take part.
It was announced earlier this year that three post offices in the region – Willenhall, Cannock and Kidderminster – have been earmarked to relocate into shops.
Post Office bosses are seeking retail partners for 76 of their Crown branches in a bid to cut losses of £40million a year but have stressed that branches will remain open where these cannot be found.
Crown post offices are the larger branches usually based in high streets.
The CWU is seeking a pay rise for staff, saying they had not received an increase since April 2011. Members voted by almost nine to one in favour of strike action and went on strike for a day on Easter Saturday.
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: "Post Office management's behaviour is astonishing.
"Their flawed plans to close or franchise 76 offices are meeting robust opposition in communities across the country."
Andy Furey, CWU national official, said: "The Post Office is in disarray. We have really been left with no option other than to take further strike action. We took the offer of talks from the Post Office in good faith, only to be subjected to one of the worst meetings I've endured as a union negotiator.
"This management is currently not interested in resolving this dispute. They are determined to charge headlong into a damaging closure and franchise programme and are deaf to the reasonable options we have tried to put to them on the future of the network. Our members' confidence in this management is at an all-time low."
