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Scotland: postal workers strike Royal Mail to protest closure of Broxburn sorting office |
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Militant/Caroline Bellamy
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WEST LOTHIAN, Scotland—Postal workers in Broxburn, West Lothian, picket the government postal company, Royal Mail, at the Broxburn sorting office during an April 26 one-day strike to protest the office’s closure. A Communications Workers Union (CWU) representative, Joe Dunnigan (second from left, with glasses), who has worked at Broxburn for eight years, told the Militant: “For more than six years we have been demanding a new sorting office in Broxburn, on health and safety grounds. Then, without consulting either the workers or the public, Royal Mail decided to close it, transferring us either to Livingston—a bus journey—or near Bathgate, which is two bus journeys away.” The new location will also mean that Broxburn residents have to travel farther to pick up mail. In response to the announcement of these plans, the CWU called a public meeting in February with local politicians and Royal Mail management. The event was attended by over 250 people, Dunnigan said, but “the bosses didn’t want to listen, they now view us as a business, not a service to the community. Today is the first day we should have started in the new offices. We are determined to stick to our guns—we’re balloting early next month on an overtime ban and work to rule. It’s in both our interests and that of the public. We’ve been given a lot of support today and we’re very encouraged.”
—CAROLINE BELLAMY Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home |