Post Office strike: Will your Post Office be CLOSED? Why are staff walking out today?
POST OFFICE workers are on strike today in a dispute over branch closures, job cuts and pension changes. Here is everything you need to know about the action and whether your local Post Office will be closed.
Post Office workers have gone on strike today
Dozens of branches will be closed today and tomorrow (December 20) as members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) stage a 48-hour strike.
Workers are protesting against plans to transfer 60 branches to the private sector. The row is part of an ongoing dispute over cost-cutting moves that unions claim will lead to job losses and branch closures.
Will your Post Office be closed?
The Post Office have said that it will be "Christmas as usual" in 97 per cent of its branches.
Only the larger crown branches – which are directly managed by the Post Office and represent only 300 of the UK’s 11,6000 branches – will be hit by the walk-outs, with many more set to open than did in the previous round of strikes.
Dozens of branches will be closed all day
Post Office closures in full
London
Abbey Wood, Barnes Green, Cricklewood, Lupus Street, Muswell Hill, St Johns Wood, Stamford Hill, Sydenham
South
Collier Row, Consett, Hornchurch, Keynsham, Newport, Paignton, Sheerness
North
Barnes Green, Bransholme, Breck Road Chester Le Street, Dingle, Old Swan, Pontefract, Prestwich, Walkden Central
Midlands
Kingstanding
East Anglia
Dereham
Wales
Llangefeni, Morriston, Port Talbot
Scotland
Duke Street, East Kilbride, Hecla Avenue, Morningside, Wester Hailes
Northern Ireland
Londonderry, Newtownwards
Check postoffice.co.uk for the most up-to-date information.
Many branches have been transferred to WH Smith stores
Why are Post Office staff going on strike?
The strike is part of an ongoing row over branch closures, jobs and pensions.
The Post Office, which is state owned, plans to transfer 60 of its flagship crown branches to the private sector. The plan would result in around 2,000 job cuts.
As part of cost cuts, bosses have also announced changes to staff pensions which will see almost 100,000 workers lose thousands in retirement funds.
One manager was told that his projected pension would fall from £38,000 to just £18,000 a year. The Post Office scrapped a defined benefits scheme that guaranteed income based on each worker’s average salary, saying the costs were “unsustainable”.
The CWU announced the first round of walk-outs after 83 per cent of its members voted for industrial action. CWU general secretary Dave Ward said the Post Office was at "crisis point”.
He added: “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.”
The Government separated the Post Office from Royal Mail when it sold off the delivery company in 2012. Since then a number of branches have been closed with dozens transferred to WH Smith stores.