Disappointed customers are being turned away from Dundee’s main Post Office today after the latest strike action by staff caused the closure of the Ward Road premises.
Post Office managers were unable to make alternative staffing arrangements after staff at the city centre branch adhered to their union’s day of action.
Communications Workers Union officials picketing the office ended up advising customers on where best to find alternative services.
It is the second consecutive day of closure following Monday’s public holiday.
Local CWU representative Tony Sneddon said: “Post Office Counters haven’t shipped in managers this time. It’s not our fault the post office is closed.
“Customers have been turning up from early this morning and we’ve been talking to them and advising them of the alternatives they can use.
“This is having a major effect on the customers because it was shut for the bank holiday yesterday as well, but the public have been very supportive.
“The strike action has been taken because they brought nothing new to the table. We want to get them back to the negotiating table as soon as possible.
“In the past they’ve brought in managers to cover but obviously after the bank holiday, plus the fact it’s half term in England, they didn’t have anybody available.
“They brought people up from south of the border before.”
The Post Office said 240 of the 370 branches remain open today.
It said it was disappointed at the CWU call for further strike action, despite the continuation of talks to end the dispute and its agreement to pay £100 of its current pay proposal immediately.
The Post Office said it is still in discussions with the CWU around pay options that would not increase the bottom line loss of its Crown Post Office network, and also the potential to make a consolidated pay increase before April 2015, if the Crown network can be returned to profit before then.
Kevin Gilliland, network and sales director at the Post Office, said: ““We are working hard to minimise the effect of strike action and regret any inconvenience this may cause to customers. Around 240 of our 370 Crown branches remain open and the remainder of our 11,800 branches are unaffected by strike action.
“We want to end this dispute and we are disappointed at the CWUs decision to take further strike action while talks are still ongoing. We must continue with our plans to turnaround the Crown network and ensure we keep these branches on high streets in city centres across the UK. We remain open to discussions with the CWU on pay options which do not add to the current loss of public money.”