Strike against post office closures

Everybody out! The shout would echo around the shop floor before a solemn downing of tools and marching out of the factory gates.

Of course, strikes in the good old days may not actually have happened like that - it is a pleasure I have never shared, so my main source of information is the fabulous Peter Sellers movie I'm Alright Jack. But what I have experienced first hand is the effect strike action can have.

Unions are a noble necessity to keep those money-grubbing capitalists in check. Without their bold stands and sacrifices, our pay and work conditions would be a whole lot worse. However, history recalls how the British have a knack of overdoing things.

I remember as a child watching the TV coverage of strikers in the late Seventies making angry demands when their livelihoods were under threat. 'What do we want? 20 per cent! When do we want it? Now!' That was the Winter of Discontent and what they eventually got - apart from that huffing public sector army - was often the sack. It brought down a Government and helped to bring Thatcherism to power.

Those factory shop floors were indeed cleared out along with an industrial nation's backbone.

Stepping forward to the 21st Century there is a sense of déjà vu with the current wave of Royal Mail strikes. Bosses and members of the Communication Workers Union have locked horns over pay and work practices. It is not for me to judge the rights and wrongs but one thing seems certain - it will all end in tears.

The National Federation of SubPostmasters has been at pains to distance itself from strike action, having been bribed with hush money from the Government - a 28-month pay off for axed branches. But that won't stop them being dragged into the melee with strike closures hitting major Crown post offices.

It all acts as a handy smokescreen for the imminent culling of 2,500 vital post office branches. So comrades, do not be averted, as strike or no strike, our fight for post office survival must continue.

Toby Walne, Travels With Toby, Financial Mail on Sunday

Comments

[Michael James]

Toby

Ernest Bevin one of the founders of the Labour Party and Trade Unions spent his Childhood here in Copplestone. Maybe, you would like to visit and see how wobbly the Post Offices are in this area and how we are liable to be trumped, even if we survive the cuts of the Post Office LTD, by a huge Tesco for Crediton.

Michael James
Copplestone Stores and PO

[chriscook]

great that you got some answers on when the post office will start axing branches, maybe you could find out when it plans to shut mail centers down. Coventry mail center is to close and its work will be transferred to Northampton with the loss of 500 jobs although Royal Mail denies anyone will lose their job as long as they are "FLEXIBLE". considering the majority of staff are part time with family commitments i think it would be safe to assume that most people will be out of work when coventry mail center shuts. if you could find out how long we've got left we would very much appreciate it as good old Royal Mail are telling us nothing.