Postal workers strike over Christmas leave

POSTAL workers are staging a strike today in protest at management demands that they keep offices open until 4pm.

The Communication Workers Union says that Post Offices have 'always' closed at 12.30pm on Christmas Eve and that there is insufficient demand to justify keeping them open into the afternoon.

Royal Mail bosses, however, insist that two million customers who depend on the network being open on Christmas Eve should be able to obtain their benefit payments and have cash over the following four-day Christmas holiday.

The Post Office's chief executive David Mills said: 'The elderly and the disabled are among the groups which most rely on the Post Office. We are determined to do everything possible to ensure our customers can visit our branches until 4pm on Christmas Eve.'

Mills insisted that it was 'entirely reasonable' to expect staff to work a full day, or most of it, on Christmas Eve as they were paid until the end of their scheduled duty.

CWU national officer Andy Furey, however, described the Post Office's position as 'intransigent and illogical'. He declared: 'There is no need to keep offices open until 4pm on Christmas Eve and to suggest otherwise is absurd.

'Our members work tirelessly in the run-up to Christmas to provide an excellent service, and to try and force them to work at a time when they want to be with their family and friends is insulting. What sort of festive message is that?'The 12.30pm finish has been in place for decades. The public are used to it and employees deserve it. We have exhausted every single avenue to avoid industrial action, but the Post Office's dogmatic stance has left the union with no other option.'

Every branch in the 15,300-strong nationwide network will be open until 12.30pm and the strike will affect less than 2% of the total, the Post Office stressed.

Shadow industry minister Michael Fabricant said: 'While I welcome any moves by the Post Office to provide a better service for its customers and to increase its viability, yet again this dispute demonstrates the lamentable industrial relations that prevail in this troubled organisation.

'It becomes ever more apparent that the current structure of Royal Mail is not sustainable into the future.'