Strike at Leighton Buzzard Post Office this Saturday as union members demand pay rise

Communications Workers Union members will take strike action at the Church Square business on Saturday, June 4, to demand a pay rise from April 1, 2021.

The first national strike was held earlier this month, with one third of the town's CWU members taking part.

Tim Pavelin, CWU representative for the Anglia and Midlands regions, said: "Post Office are offering nothing - 0 per cent - for all the hard work by staff during the pandemic, which is unacceptable to CWU members.

"Post Office workers in Leighton Buzzard were classed as keyworkers and kept the country running.

"However, Post Office senior managers are now saying these keyworkers are not worth a pay rise, and have not engaged in any negotiation with the CWU.

"Post Office workers, CWU members, have been left with no option other than to withdraw their labour to get a pay rise."

CWU expects the strike action to disrupt Post Office services during the Jubilee celebrations, and has been backed nationally by the CWU members on a 97.3 per cent yes vote on a turnout of over 70 per cent of members.

Mr Pavelin added: "A good employer would have considered shutting on the Saturday of the Jubilee celebrations, to allow their staff to commemorate the event.

"This shows an employer totally out of touch with its workforce, and a Post Office in crisis."

The CWU says it remains committed to talks with Post Office Limited (POL), and hopes that the announcement of strike action will "resonate” with POL in commencing negotiations with the CWU to end the deadlock for 2021 pay.

A Post Office spokesman said: “We want to assure our customers that the vast majority of our branches are unaffected by CWU strike action on Saturday, June 4.

"Our Leighton Buzzard branch is normally open between 9am and 4pm on a Saturday. We apologise in advance to any customers who are inconvenienced should the branch be closed.

"Our branch at 33-35 New Road is open between 9am and 6pm on weekends and is expected to be open over the Jubilee weekend.”