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A loyal Post Office worker says she feels “undervalued and ignored” and pleads for public support for strikers in an open letter to her bosses.

Julie Courtney, 50, a counter clerk, who has worked for the Post Office for more than 20 years, says she always wanted to serve the public, but was stung by criticism of the strikes as “irresponsible.”

Ms Courtney, of Liverpool and a Communication Workers Union member, says she feels demoralised and depressed by Post Office closures and cuts, and attacks on their pay and conditions.

She outlines drastic changes, which she says do nothing for the communities they serve and left left hard-working and lowly-paid staff like her feeling they are alone with no real future.

Her pleas for support comes as strikes by rail and Post Office workers launched a wave of walkouts that could spell Christmas misery for hundreds of thousands of people.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

The action will wreak havoc for air, rail and postal services during the festive season in a series of disputes over jobs, pay, pensions and safety.

Walkouts began with 3,500 Post Office workers who started five days of strikes in protest at job losses, the closure of a final salary pension scheme and the franchising of Crown Post Offices.

Last minute Christmas cards and presents could be affected if 1,000 Royal Mail delivery staff, who are not involved in the current dispute,take unofficial industrial action at the busiest time of the year.

And members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at Southern Railway started a 48-hour stoppage in a long-running dispute over the role of conductors.

Combined with an ongoing overtime by train drivers in the Aslef union, the action caused more delays and cancelled services for 300,000 passengers on busy commuter routes.

(Image: SWNS.com)

Talks to avert strikes by British Airways cabin crew over Christmas were started at the conciliation service Acas, but unless a deal is reached they will strike on Christmas Day and Boxing Day in a pay row. BA said it would run a full service over Christmas even if the strikes go ahead.

Another long-running dispute over pay could see 1,500 baggage handlers, check-in staff and cargo crews strike at airports around the UK on December 23 and Christmas Eve. Talks start at Acas.

And Virgin Atlantic pilots could “work to contract” from Friday in a row over union recognition.

Meanwhile, Downing Street said the unions were showing “shared contempt” for people going about their daily lives, but a spokesman appeared to distance the prime minister from right-wing Tory MPs baying for tougher strike laws.

Union leaders denied the strikes were co-ordinated or part of a plot to bring down the Tory government.

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Downing Street declined to say whether Prime Minister Theresa May regarded the strikes and their timing the run-up to Christmas as politically-motivated, saying only that it was for the unions to explain their own motivations.

And he played down the prospect of new legislation to tackle strikers, pointing out that the Government has just passed a Trade Union Act, and adding: “The Prime Minister’s focus right now is on getting these disputes settled and on easing the burden that has been unnecessarily place on hundreds of thousands of people.”

Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said the UK already had some of the toughest trade union laws in the world and that tightening them would put all the power in the hands of “bad employers.”

She pointed out that all the strikes were for different reasons and that the focus should be on the root causes.

Ms O’Grady added: “We are working in a background where workers are still £20 a week worse off on average than before the financial crash, where we’re seeing inflation rise and real pay cuts come in.

(Image: Getty)

“We’ve had the rise of zero hours and sham self employment. Striking is always a last resort. We negotiate and settle thousands of deals.”

Striking Post Office workers set up a Santa’s Grotto, complete with live reindeer, outside a government department as their industrial action began.

The Communication Workers Union staged the festive protest outside the central London headquarters of the Business Department, including fake snow.

The union handed in more than 70,000 post cards signed by members of the public across the country in support of their campaign.

Dave Ward, CWU, general secretary, warned that the future of the Post Office in high streets was at stake because of the franchising of Crown Post Offices to retail firms such as WH Smith.

(Image: Getty)

He said he made an offer to the Post Office last week to call off the industrial action in return for talks about the future of the network, which he said was rejected.

He accused the Government of standing by while Crown offices closed, and company executives of only being interested in “managing decline”.

“This is a dispute about the future of high street Post Offices. Good quality offices are being moved to the back of businesses, offering fewer services and leading to worse pay and conditions.

“That model is exactly what is wrong in this country and with the world of work today,” he said.

The union claimed a fresh wave of closures is set to be announced in the new year.The Post Office said around 50 branches were closed by the strike.

Kevin Gilliland, group network and sales director of the Post Office, said: “Over 99% of our branches are open for business today.

“Today’s strike action closed fewer than 50 of our 11,600 branches. Over 50,000 people across our business are on hand to help customers with their preparations for Christmas. All of our branches will be open as usual on 21, 22 and 23 December.

“It’s simply not true that we are unwilling to talk with CWU.”

Julie's letter in full

(Image: PA)

I have worked for the Post Office for over 20 years, and for the vast majority of that I have thoroughly enjoyed and always wanted to serve the public.

I started as a retail assistant and have worked at all levels in the business. What is extremely frustrating is the inference in the media which now seems to judge me and my colleagues as somehow irresponsible and uncaring by taking industrial action.

None of us want to be in this position and have been through extremely difficult periods of change over the last few years.

I personally have been moved three times due to a series of programme closures and cuts described by the employer as ‘transformation’.

If there was a sense that these changes were to position us for a positive future then it would be different but that is not how it feels.

I am 50 and started off as a retail assistant, but I am now a counter clerk in Dingle, Liverpool, and we are getting a lot of sympathy from the public.

More people are coming to the Post Office as bank branches have been closed down.

(Image: PA)

Our wages are not the best, I am on £21,000 a year, and some of my colleagues are having to claim benefits to live, even though we do jobs we love, serving the public.

I can honestly say and I do believe that I speak for many of my colleagues that we feel completely undervalued and ignored by the Post Office in the manner in which they have approached change in the last few years.

It is demoralising and depressing that our individual views and the views of our trade union appear to be completely ignored.

I do not believe that the changes proposed are doing anything for the people who work for the Post Office or the communities we serve.

It really feels like continuing decline and there is no question that since we have been split from Royal Mail it feels like we are alone with no real future.

And to add insult to injury our new pension will be an absolute disgrace, I don’t know what mine will be, but it will be cut by thosuands of pounds from what we were hping for.

Our experience is cuts, attacks on our terms and conditions, a decline in the standard of the environment we work in and the reward for over 20 years of loyal service is them offering us no real future and taking away our pensions.

That is what it feels like working in the Post Office today. Please support us.

The disputes

Post Office

(Image: Getty)

3,500 members of the Communication Workers Union have walked out at Post Offices across the country and will strike for five days, including Christmas Eve.

On Thursday and Friday supply chain members who deliver cash to post offices will take action.

They are protesting at job losses, the closure of their final salary pension scheme and the franchising of services from Crown offices to firms such as WH Smith.

Previous strikes have been held, and further industrial action in the new year is not being ruled out.

Delivery drivers to rural Post Offices could strike on Thursday 22 December and Friday 23 December.

Southern Railway

(Image: PA)

320 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union started a 48-hour strike in a long-running dispute over changes to the role of guards, which has led to a series of walkouts this year.

Members of the drivers’ union Aslef are banning overtime, so the combination of the two unions’ action caused delays and cancellations to services.

British Airways

(Image: Getty)

BA cabin crew are planning to strike on Christmas Day and Boxing Day in a row over pay.

The Unite union says 4,000 workers who have joined the airline since 2010 as part of the so-called Mixed Fleet, are on less pay than other staff.

Talks aimed at resolving the row were started at the conciliation service Acas yesterday.

Swissair

Employees working as baggage handlers and other ground staff at 18 airports are set to strike on Friday and Christmas Eve in a pay dispute.

Talks will be held at Acas tomorrow. Airports including Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Luton, Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Doncaster, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton will be affected.

Virgin Atlantic

(Image: Getty)

Pilots belonging to the Professional Pilots’ Union (PPU) will start a “work to contract” from Friday in a row over union recognition.

PPU said some flights would be cancelled. Virgin said it did not expect flights to be affected.

London Underground

(Image: PA)

Workers in the RMT and TSSA unions are banning overtime in a dispute over jobs and ticket office closures.

Weetabix

Cereal company will see strikes by 243 workers in the New Year sites at Corby and Kettering, both in Northamptonshire, after talks broke down over changes in shift patterns.

The shop workers’ union USDAW said members voted by 91.7% for industrial action on a turnout of 69.5%.