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The War On Christmas: Labor Unions Threaten To Derail Britain’s Christmas

REUTERS/Andrew Parsons (BRITAIN)

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Ted Goodman Contributor
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Hundreds of post office managers and train drivers threaten to disrupt Christmas travel and package delivery in Great Britain.

More than 700 post office managers across the country announced plans to strike Saturday, Dec. 3 over pensions and the franchising of the “Crown Post Office.” Crown Post Offices are larger branches of the nation’s mail service, and are centrally located in communities across the country.

The mangers, represented by Unite, said that the all-day walk out would disrupt overseas Christmas mail on the peak day for Christmas services.

The managers will be joining the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which is currently engaged in a dispute over jobs, pensions, and franchising. The CWU contends that the Post Office’s plans to transfer 61 Crown Post Offices into private retail stores, will result in 2,000 jobs being lost.

The Post Office asserts that the if the strike does take place, the walkout would only impact “less than 300 of our 11,600 branches.”

Britain’s Southern Railway, which serves the densely populated London suburbs South of the River Thames, will face multiple labor disruptions in the coming weeks as its train drivers and conductors prepare for strikes thoughout December and January.

Members of the Associated Society of Locomotive Steam Enginemen and Firemen (ASLAF), which represents the drivers of Southern Rail, voted overwhelmingly to walk off the job, with 87 percent voting in favor of the strike.

ASLAF announced Monday that its drivers would strike Dec. 13, 14 and 16, and then again from Jan. 9 through Jan. 14. The strike comes as the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), which also represents employees of the Southern Rail, prepares for previously announced strikes Dec. 6, 22, and 31.

The strikes come at a bad time for Southern rail, which is dealing with a long year of strikes, delays, protests and terrorism scares. The unions are walking a fine line between effective messaging (by striking during peak times) while also trying to avoid public backlash by striking on the says surrounding Christmas.

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