LTB 690/16 - Post Office Crisis - Postcard Campaign

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LTB 690/16 - Post Office Crisis - Postcard Campaign

No. 690/2016

24th November 2016



TO: ALL CWU BRANCHES



Dear Colleague

Post Office Crisis - Postcard Campaign

‎As branches will be aware, CWU members in the Post Office are currently in a major industrial dispute over job losses, branch closures and the closure of the defined benefit pension scheme. These are the latest in a series of significant cost-cutting measures and it is difficult to see a long-term future for the company unless the Post Office changes course.

Because the Post Office is still in public ownership, the dispute has an important political angle. The union is therefore running a major public and political campaign to exert pressure on the government, which is ultimately responsible for what is happening. This campaign, and the arguments we have been making, have resulted in widespread criticism of the Post Office and the government in both the media and Parliament.

In response to this the government launched a public consultation on the future of the Post Office earlier this month. It is extremely important that we now use this to get public support for our key demands and ensure that the consultation exercise does not provide the government or the Post Office with an excuse for not changing course.

We are writing to you because we need the whole of the union to get behind the next stage of our campaign and support our Post Office members. We will be sending out postcards, which respond to the consultation, to every branch and we are asking you to collect signatures for these over the next three weeks. The postcards call for an immediate halt to the cuts and a fundamental change in direction from the Post Office to protect our members' jobs and what is a cherished public service.

We would urge branches to make every effort to get as many postcards as possible completed – by both the public and our members – and return these to CWU Headquarters before 12th December (these should not be sent to the government directly directly).

Our members in the Post Office are facing an extremely serious dispute and an unprecedented attack on their job security and terms and conditions. They need the whole of the union to get behind this campaign, just as we will ask all branches to support T&FS members in their disputes.

Branches are therefore asked to treat this campaign as a priority over the coming weeks and target large workplaces and any public meetings and events to get as many postcards signed as possible. Any queries on the contents of this LTB should be directed to GSoffice@cwu.org and any requests for postcards should be made to mmurray@cwu.org.



Yours sincerely



Dave Ward Andy Kerr

General Secretary Deputy General Secretary (T&FS)