Christmas Eve row at Post Office

Neither side is moving in their argument over opening hours

Post Office workers are to strike on Christmas Eve over opening hours, with managers filling in for counter staff at 294 crown offices from 1230 GMT.

The Royal Mail said it wanted to keep its 555 crown offices open until 1600 GMT to give people more time to collect pensions and child benefits.

The Communication Workers Union said there was no need to keep offices open beyond the traditional 1230GMT closing.

The CWU's Andy Furey said Royal Mail was being "intransigent and illogical".

He added: "There is no need to keep offices open until 4pm on Christmas Eve and to suggest otherwise is absurd.

"The 1230pm finish has been in place for decades. The public are used to it and employees deserve it. We have exhausted every single avenue to avoid industrial action, but the Post Office's dogmatic stance has left the union with no other option."

The proposed strike is limited to crown offices, the Royal Mail's main post offices. The vast majority of Royal Mail's 15,000 post offices are not crown offices, it said.

Post Office chief executive David Mills said: "The call for strike action is unnecessary and unjustified.

"Around two million customers, who rely solely on the Post Office for access to their cash, are dependent on our network being open on Christmas Eve so that they can obtain their benefit payments and have cash over the following four-day Christmas holiday."

He said it was "entirely reasonable" to expect staff to work a full day, or most of it, on Christmas Eve" as they were paid until the end of their scheduled duty.