Post union calls for political help

Unions have vowed to avoid action over Christmas

Scottish unions have called for political action to prevent major job losses at Consignia, the renamed Post Office.

Union leaders have threatened to ballot members across the UK on strike action unless the plans to cut the workforce by 30,000 are abandoned by Thursday.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has told the House of Commons that there will be no political intervention over the redundancies.

Derek Dirkin: "Quite a revelation"

But his stance has been described as "quite a revelation" by David Dirkin of the Communications Workers' Union's east of Scotland branch.

He told BBC Scotland: "I don't know of any other owner of a company that would sit back while 30,000 of their employees were being effectively thrown on the dole.

"It is a position that the union, which I may remind him supported this government to the extent of over £1m during the election, would find quite astonishing.

"We are still a publicly-owned industry. Some politicians might not like that, but that's the facts of the matter and in a publicly owned company we would expect government intervention."

The jobs will be shed at Consignia over the next 18 months as Consignia aims to cut costs by £1.2bn.

I don't know of any other owner of a company that would sit back while 30,000 of their employees were being effectively thrown on the dole

David Dirkin, Communications Workers' Union

Senior management have expressed hopes that "natural wastage" will avoid the need for compulsory redundancies.

Mr Dirkin said he did not doubt suggestions that 20,000 people were leaving Consignia every year.

"When an industry is attacked and run down as the Post Office has been over the last two or three years, then you experience that turnover of staff," he said.

"We would hope for radical changes in the industry, supported by the union, that would slow down that turnover."

He did not think that job losses should be inevitable in a booming industry.

"Our position is that that we will fight compulsory redundancies by all means necessary - including the use of industrial action," said Mr Dirkin.

However, there will be no disruption over Christmas.

"The public have suffered enough," he said.