Postal workers target PM's constituency for march

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/874589 ... for_march/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

POSTAL workers from every corner of the British Isles will descend on Witney to bring their fight to stop the privatisation of the Royal Mail to David Cameron’s doorstep.

Members of the Communication Workers Union from as far as Scotland and Northern Ireland will join colleagues from across Oxfordshire and England for a protest march through the west Oxfordshire town on Sunday, January 9.

The Government is pushing ahead with plans to sell the Royal Mail to plug a £10bn pension fund deficit.

A Government review of the Royal Mail in 2008 also claimed a universal postal service could only be maintained by an injection of private sector cash and expertise.

However, postal workers claim the move will lead to job losses and higher prices for customers.

They believe organising a 500-strong protest rally through the Prime Minister’s west Oxfordshire constituency is the best way to draw attention to the plans .

Eastern regional secretary Paul Moffat said: “It’s important we take our concerns about what’s happening to this country and to the Royal Mail to David Cameron’s doorstep.

“We’re not having our voices heard in Westminster now.

“We now believe Witney is the place the demonstration needs to be taken and we’re looking at people coming from the length and breadth of the country with support coming from all 10 regions of the CWU.”

Mr Moffat said a petition organised in Witney last year to fight Labour’s plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail attracted about 600 signatures.

As part of the march, protesters plan to hand out postcards to Witney residents so they can voice their opposition directly to Mr Cameron.

Paul Garraway, branch secretary of the CWU in Oxfordshire and Hemel Hempsted, represents about 1,800 members.

He said: “If privatisation goes ahead there will be widespread job losses and the quality of the service will plummet.

“We feel all our families will be made worse off by these cuts and now they’ve just made it a certainty that our kids will never go to university by making it financially impossible.”

The union held a national rally in London yesterday, which saw shadow business secretary John Denham, Green Party leader Caroline Lucas MP and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone voice their opposition to privatisation.

Department for Business spokes-man Joe Upton said: “The biggest threat to postal services in the UK and to jobs at Royal Mail is to do nothing.

“The approach we’re taking is based on hard facts and real evidence – the letters market is in structural decline, and Royal Mail is facing huge competition from email and other forms of communication. Without urgent action it has an extremely uncertain future, which is why we introduced the Postal Services Bill.”

Royal Mail spokesman Jaquie Stenson said: “Royal Mail very much supports the Postal Services Bill, including the Government’s proposals to resolve the pension deficit, provide access to external capital and a regulatory level playing field.”

Protestors are due to assemble in Church Green at 11.30am ahead of a march around the town at 12pm.

[Lincox]

I was born in this old blanket town. Time to go back home, shpw support and meet up with a few old buddies.

[bexhil palace]

I'm in.
I will be on the way home from a weekend on the lash in Coventry.
So Cam if you want a tearup you can av one. :dcfo

[fishtank]

I'm in.
I will be on the way home from a weekend on the lash in Coventry.
So Cam if you want a tearup you can av one. :dcfo

Well it's a bit of a trip down...but it is my long weekend.....

[POSTMAN]

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[Wessex]

It's a big yes from me as well ,so 500 is going to be a rubbish estimate.Thousands more like, I reckon, unless bad weather stops play.

[POSTMAN]

On facebook...

I am trying to organise a coach from Worthing & Brighton area if there is enough demand. There may be a small charge, if interested please email keepthepostpublic@virginmedia.com

[norbert]

Don't shoot the messenger but the word on a well known Social Networking Site is that Camer-con's cottage is miles away from Whitney , I think ? his neighbours are members of the Murdoch family

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/art ... ption.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

" The Tory leader has held Witney since 2001. Previous MPs include former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd and multimillionaire Shaun Woodward, who defected to Labour.
Cameron lives about 11 miles from the town, but still inside his constituency border, in a honey-coloured stone period Cotswold cottage in the tiny, picturesque, hamlet of Dean, near Chipping Norton, where comic Ronnie Barker had a holiday home.
In his maiden speech at the House of Commons, Cameron thanked Woodward for providing so many jobs in Witney through the staff he employed at his vast 15-bedroom Sarsden House."


Don't get me wrong , I'd love it if it gave Dave Snooty & Pals a problem . :dcfo :ncfo :vcfo