Staff at East Croydon Post Office have said they will take strike action in a bid to save their workplace and jobs.

Counter staff and union officials at the Addiscombe Road branch have collected almost 3,000 signatures from the public in support of keeping the office open in just a few days of campaigning.

They issued a statement to customers and Consignia, which runs the post office, saying they have applied to the Communication Workers' Union to ballot for industrial action.

Consignia announced at the beginning of November that it was starting a consultation period over the proposed closure as part of a nationwide plan to cut costs by £50 million, on the grounds that it has had a steady decline in business and there were other post offices nearby.

Gary Kirkwood, secretary of the Croydon and Sutton branch of the union, told the Croydon Guardian that the outcome of a ballot of counter staff would probably be 100 per cent in favour of striking for one or two days as a statement of how deep feeling runs.

He said: "We believe that Consignia's decision to close the office has been taken on a purely budgetary basis - as opposed to with the community and their own employees in mind."

He claimed the branch's takings have increased in the last year and said customers, in particular the high number of elderly people and those with children, would find it inconvenient to use the High Street branch, which is several minutes walk away.

Labour councillor for Addiscombe, Jerry Fitzpatrick, who will chair a public meeting on the closure next week, said he would be inviting a post office representative to present its case.

"It would be regarded as an expression of contempt if a representative did not attend to address the community, which is universally opposed to the closure."

The meeting will be held at 7.30pm on Thursday, December 6, at the United Reformed Church Hall in Addiscombe Grove.

November 29, 2001 09:32