Post Office, photo by grassrootsgroundswell (Creative Commons)

Post Office, photo by grassrootsgroundswell (Creative Commons)   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Carl Harper, CWU member (personal capacity)

Thousands of Communication Workers Union (CWU) members working in the Post Office will take strike action on 15 September against attacks on their job security and pensions.

In a programme of cuts, including a further 2,000 job losses, the loss of thousands of pounds in retirement pay and the ultimate privatisation of its ‘flagship branches’, the Post Office is continuing to attack the network and supply chain.

In closing down the pension scheme, the Post Office is stealing money workers have built up over many years of service. This is despite there being a surplus of over £130 million – making it one of the best funded pension schemes in the country. In attempts to defeat the strike, the Post Office has offered staff money not to go on strike. CWU representatives could be targeted. This highlights the desperation to achieve the savings.

With similar cuts being made across Royal Mail, there is a desperate need for coordinated action in defence of jobs, pay and terms and conditions right across the industry. This should be linked up with other unions and workers working in the courier companies.

Coordinated action

The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) rally and lobby of the TUC on 11 September called on delegates to demand such action be coordinated right across the union movement, starting with a national demonstration, linking it to the junior doctors dispute.

Defeat of this Tory government and its cuts programme and the election of an anti-austerity Corbyn government would be a significant step forward in giving workers the confidence to defend themselves against cuts at all levels.