Post offices to shut doors

Press, 9 August 1985, Page 1

Post offices to shut doors

Post offices throughout Canterbury will close their doors to the public for the first time on Thursday, August 15, while members of the Post Office Union hold a stop-work meeting. Toll services, postal deliveries, and everything else except essential emergency services will stop for three hours from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. It will be the first time that New Zealand post offices have been closed by industrial action, according to the Chief Postmaster in Christchurch, Mr Syd Bradley.

The union will hold the meeting to tell its members the outcome of recent talks in view of the coming negotiations on wages and conditions. There has been unrest among Post Office workers about wages and conditions for some time. The Post Office had agreed to the stop-work meetings in order to minimise disruption to Post Office customers, said Mr Bradley. The meetings will be held on different dates in other parts of New Zealand. Management staff would work through the stop-work meetings, and every effort would be made to keep the mail flowing, said Mr Bradley.

Toll exchanges will not be manned, except for emergency 111 calls for the police, Fire Service, or ambulance. Staff will also be on hand to keep the communication lines of emergency services open.