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Post Office staff to walk out of branches
One-day strike to hit counters over
‘privatisation’
STRIKE action will hit Camden’s post offices on Monday
– the same day Royal Mail hands over their Kentish Town
branch to a private company – leaving bosses struggling
to keep services going.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will picket
branches across the borough after voting in favour of industrial
action in protest over the privatisation of branches.
And the one-day strike has been backed by the Camden Civic Society,
who in December spoke out against the plans to hand over the
Kentish Town Road post office to a Shieldex Ltd.
Society chairman Martin Morton told the New Journal he feared
for the standard of service if the move went ahead.
He said: “We lost our sub-post office on Highgate West
Hill about 18 months ago. They closed it down, which increases
the pressure on Camden and Kentish Town.
Mr Morton, who lives in Highgate, added: “They are now
treating the staff the way they are treating their customers
– badly.”
Royal Mail say Shieldex, who have been running a branch in Edgeware,
will offer a better service. they have pledged to open branches
earlier and plan to run a Sunday service between 10am and 4pm.
they also have offered new services, including photo processing
and selling mobile phone accessories – but unions believe
the five year deal to run Kentish Town post office has few guarantees.
CWU member Ian Ward said: “A franchised office is more
insecure. If it all goes wrong the general public in Kentish
Town could be left without any main post office. We think the
whole system is a sham.
“We class this as a closure not a franchise. They grant
short-term contracts for about five years and, once they have
run out, if the new owner decides they want to go they can go.”
CWU assistant secretary, Andy Furey added: “Closures will
mean hundreds of job losses, inferior services and will add
to the degradation of the Post Office network. The CWU is calling
upon Post Office Ltd to think again.”
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We are confident of keeping
services going for customers as this action will affect a very
small number of branches – 42 out of around 800 in London.
Most Post Office branches are already successfully managed in
partnership with individual subpostmasters or retail companies.
Franchising has been a proven model for many years as one of
the ways in which we can reduce costs, whilst bringing benefits
to customers through longer opening hours and better surroundings.” |
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