Post Office strike threat
Swansea’s two biggest post offices are bracing themselves for shutdown in a growing row over plans to move the city’s big Kingsway branch.
Staff have voted in favour of industrial action at a string of Crown post offices.
Details of exactly what form the action will take should emerge within 24 hours.
But it could force the temporary closure of The Kingsway, Morriston, Neath, Port Talbot, Llanelli and Carmarthen branches.
It would mean problems for customers who use them for anything from picking up benefit payments to applying for passports and renewing their car tax.
Union bosses say the action is in response to the proposed deal between the Post Office and WH Smith which would see The Kingsway office shut and move to the first floor of the Quadrant store.
On Saturday, 29 staff at The Kingsway’s post office braved downpours to stage a five-hour protest ahead of the controversial move that is planned for October 5.
Thousands of Swansea residents have signed a petition calling for bosses to scrap the proposal.
Communication Workers’ Union territorial representative Chris Roche said: “This (ballot) result is significant as post office counter staff are not normally militant.
“Our members feel they have been forced to take this action as a last resort in order to make an unsympathetic employer aware of their objections.
“With the way that the Post Office is currently going it is hard to know where they will stop – will there be any post offices left in five years?”
The union’s assistant secretary Andy Furey added: “These members have shown Post Office Ltd that closures, job losses and poor franchise agreements are unacceptable and will not be suffered lightly.”
Charlie Truscott, the CWU counter secretary for South West Wales, said: “The idea is that we will have a stoppage, but we have to agree when to do it.
“There will be action of some description which will affect the seven Crown post offices in South West Wales.”
A Post Office spokeswoman said they were determined to ensure offices were kept open despite the possibility of action.
She added: “Volunteer managers will keep the seven main post office branches open for business should industrial action occur.”
She added: “Strike action can only worsen the prospects for loss-making post office branches, their employees and, most importantly, the customers who use them.
“No-one stands to lose their job as a result of the changes we’re making.
“Every individual has had the offer of redeployment within the Post Office or a voluntary redundancy package if they want to leave the business, and they have also been able to apply for a job with WH Smith.
“The simple truth of the matter is that annual losses of GBP 50 million in the branches run directly by Post Office Ltd aren’t sustainable.”
