Postal workers 'to go on strike'

Postal workers want a freeze on all mail centre closures

Postal workers in Oxford are taking part in a 24-hour strike - just days before Christmas.

They will down tools at the Cowley office from 0600 GMT on 15 December in a dispute over mail centre closures.

The Royal Mail said it was "disappointed" staff had chosen to take the action at such a busy time.

But Bob Cullen, of the Communications Workers Union, said his members wanted time for an agreement to be negotiated before any closures took place.

It is the first of seven rolling strikes across the UK.

'Demonstration'

Mr Cullen said workers were particularly unhappy about the Royal Mail's decision to move the sorting office from Cowley to a multi-million pound centre in Swindon.

But he was sure festive post would reach its destination in time for Christmas.

We are saying they should freeze all mail centre closures and at the same time keep people in employment Bob Cullen CWU

"We have no doubt that we will get the post through - we have timed it so it's far enough away from Christmas Eve that we have time to recover," he said.

"This is a demonstration to the government which is talking about going in and saving Woolworths and putting billions into the banks.

"We are not asking for any money - we are saying they should freeze all mail centre closures and enable us to negotiate a new agreement and at the same time keep people in employment."

But a Royal Mail spokesman said: "We are clearly disappointed that the union has chosen to take action, particularly at this busy time and we are urging our people to continue delivering the festive postbag and give our customers the service they want and expect.

"We are currently examining what contingency arrangements we can make to minimise the impact to our customers."