Post Office strike: 3600 walk out today as further action could cause Christmas post chaos
Thousands of staff at Post Offices across the UK will walk out today as they strike over jobs, pensions and branch closures.
The 24-hour strike will affect 118 of the Crown Post Offices, but 99 per cent of the 11,600 Post Offices will remain open.
Up to 3,500 members of the Communication Workers Union and Unite will walk out for the second time in two months today, just weeks before the expected Christmas post will start to flood in.
Read more: Post office workers set to strike
Further action in the coming months has not been ruled out, which could cause a backlog for cards, presents and online deliveries to reach their destination in time for the holiday season.
Striking workers were due to gather at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in London this morning before embarking on a tour of the city, ending with a rally at the Post Office headquarters at midday.
Communication Workers Union general secretary Dave Ward said the Post Office is a "crisis point" and urged management and the government to intervene against closures and cuts.
"Staff and the public are seeing little more than a glorified closure programme from the Post Office and it cannot survive by simply cutting costs," he said.
We are calling for the government, as the owner of the Post Office, to step in, halt the cuts and work with us to develop a proper strategy that will secure the future of the service.