Striking post workers in London last week (Pic: Guy Smallman)
Workers in 372 Crown Post Offices (CPOs) struck on Wednesday of last week, against plans to cut the network by a fifth and slash 800 jobs.
The workers are members of the CWU union. It was their eighth strike. It came amid the build-up to a fight against the privatisation of Royal Mail.
Around 50 strikers marched to Portcullis House for a parliamentary briefing. Liam Murphy had travelled down from Glasgow with other CWU members.
He told Socialist Worker, “We only have 25 Crown Post Offices in Scotland and they plan to franchise five. One of those is in Stornoway. There’s no other work on the island for those workers to go to.”
Cars beeped in support as strikers and supporters chanted “Save the Post Office!”
CWU leaders Billy Hayes, Dave Ward and Jane Loftus addressed the meeting, as did many MPs. Closing the rally Dave Ward said, “The strike today shows there is a fightback”.
He said that the dispute in the post office would be linked with the privatisation of Royal Mail adding, “We are not going to let you down.”
The CWU has called a national reps meeting to discuss the privatisation dispute.
Meanwhile post managers in the Unite union are set to hold a consultative ballot over plans to privatise their pensions.
A staffing crisis in the NHS
Health workers set to strike across four Manchester hospitals
Bus workers rejected an offer and came back out
