Post Office campaign: ‘Fantastic launch – now for the next step’

Postal, Post Office (PO), PO Supply Chain December 3 2018

“A huge thank you to everyone who came out and joined the fight to Save Our Post Office on Saturday,” says our general secretary Dave Ward, after one of the CWU’s biggest nationwide actions for many years.

From Belfast to Bristol, from Cardiff to Crawley, and from Exeter to Aberdeen, people were out and about in towns and cities in every region of the UK – North, South, East and West.

Despite the rainy and windy weather, members of the CWU, supported by community organisations, concerned residents and local traders, were out with petitions, wearing campaign T-shirts, waving flags and banners – and getting tens of thousands of signatures opposing Crown Post Office closures.

“I was up in Solihull near Birmingham,” said Dave Ward, “and if you saw my interview with the CWU facebook-live team, I made the point that the managed decline of our Crown Post Office network epitomises what’s going wrong in our society today.

“Public support in Solihull, and in the other Midlands Region protest in Nottingham, was brilliant and the reports from elsewhere all tell a similar story – anger and in many cases astonishment at closure and relocation plans that nobody has been asked about or agreed to,” he continued.

With the British public very much on our side over this issue, Dave made the point that the task now is to build on this and try to transform support into action if possible.

“Saturday was the launch, the start – and we’re going to keep this moving in the coming weeks, building a powerful alliance across society to bring the maximum pressure to bear on the Government and on the senior Post Office management.”

CWU deputy general secretary postal Terry Pullinger, who has been assisting CWU members in dispute on the Isle of Man, also had warm words of praise for the nationwide efforts by everyone on Saturday.

“I want to say a massive thank you and very well done to all our members, activists and supporters who have turned out for the big Save Our Post office campaign day.

“We’re not just fighting to save it for ourselves, but for the whole country – so thank you all for coming out over the weekend and raising the profile of this very serious issue,” he said.

“This is a Great British institution which, ultimately, needs to be put back together with Royal Mail – the retail and delivery arms – so that we can start to build them both together, with Royal Mail renationalised.

Down in London, CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey began his Action Day at Wood Green, before heading onto nearby Hackney and he described the nationwide activities as “fantastic, with excellent turnouts everywhere.

“Everyone of all ages is backing us and saying they want to protect their services – this is something that cuts across the whole of society.

“The public are on our side – and the only people not listening are the Post Office and the Government,” he added.

Looking forward, Andy said: “We’re on the march and it doesn’t stop here – this is the start of the campaign and there’s much more to come beyond today.

“So we’re looking forwards to getting involved again, getting the public on board, getting the residents, the traders etc, everyone on board.

“Let’s get as much pressure as we can put on politically, on the Post Office management. They’ve got it wrong. We’re right and we know we can win this.”

• Latest estimates are that around 75,000 signatures have come in from around the country. Saturday was the start and we are gearing up for the next step in the campaign,
• A huge thank you to everyone for coming out – and please watch out for upcoming events and activities on our campaign page, on facebook and on twitter