UK : Post Office workers staging 24 hour strike
Thousands of Post Office workers have gone on strike in a dispute over branch closures, job losses
and changes to pensions.
The 24-hour walkout is being staged by members of the Unite and Communication Workers unions.
The industrial action is expected to have the most impact on 300 Crown Post Offices in town and city centres.
The Post Office said most of its 11,600 branches would remain open and it would work to minimise disruption.
Dave Ward, general secretary of the CWU, said the Post Office was at "crisis point", and urged the government to stop the "cycle of closures, job losses and attacks on workers' terms and conditions".
'Ill-managed decline'
Ivan Monckton, of Unite, accused the government of presiding over an "ill-managed decline" of the Post Office.
Kevin Gilliland, the Post Office's network and sales director, said the Post Office regretted the unions' decision to strike.
"The Post Office is a national institution that is successfully adapting to change and we are safeguarding the future of the network," he said.
"More than 99% of people in the UK live within three miles of a Post Office branch and we are committed to secure that level of service for the future."