How the CWU is fighting to Save Our Post Office – and how you can get involved

Postal, Post Office (PO) October 25 2018

The CWU is campaigning to keep post offices open and running in the midst of a controversial programme of closures.

A post office is not just a place for sending parcels; it brings the community feel to a town or village. A post office enables us to connect with millions of people and offers a variety of goods and services that without would see the community struggle.

But due to closures, privatisation and neglect, this key part of British culture is under threat, due to the plan to ‘franchise’ 74 post offices – a plan which would hand them over to high-street retailer WH Smith – and which the union argues is nothing more than a privatisation by another name.

An estimated 800 post office workers’ jobs are at risk under this plan, the scale of which roughly equates to 1/3 of the Crown office network.

For the campaign, the union has created a unique tool that is simple, incredibly effective, and will help members and others get involved.

Clicking on this link www.saveourpostoffice.co.uk directs you to the campaign website that offers a multitude of ways to get involved.

You can contact your MP, explaining  the impact Post Office ‘franchising’ will have on the local economy and encouraging them to push for a debate in Parliament to oppose the closure of our post offices.

Whether you know the name of your MP or not is no problem, as the campaign site provide a search engine that finds them for you by entering your postcode. Once you have found them you simply send off the letter.

Also, please use the online petition. For which we hope to amass thousands of signatures to show the Government their plans to use WH Smith as an alternative is a complete injustice to the hardworking post office workers.

The CWU also asks for the website to be promoted and shared in any way you can. All support for the cause is appreciated, sharing the link on Facebook and retweeting tweets the CWU have put out along with various Labour MPs who want to back this important cause allows us to use our platform for workers rights effectively and in turn keeps a vital public service from being closed by an already failing Government.

‘Support our campaign to Save the Post Office’ said Dave Ward, the CWU’s General Secretary, at the kick-off of the Campaign. He said it was good to see people “debating policies and taking to the streets to support the campaign.”

-Written by Harry Boeken (work experience student in CWU Comms Dept)