Manchester & Merseyside: Save our Post Office’

“It was brilliant to welcome the Battlebus to our great city,” said the secretary of the CWU’s Manchester Amal Branch. “We had it parked up at Piccadilly Gardens and loads and loads of the public came and signed the post card – and it was a glorious sunny Manchester day.”

Jim praised CWU members from his own branch and also from Manchester Combined (telecom), North West No1, and North West Central branches for their support on the day, thanking the respective branch secretaries Ian Thomlinson, Dave Kennedy, and Safdar Khan.

Local politicians also came along and supported the campaign, with Labour’s prospective city mayor candidate Tony Lloyd, MEP Afzal Khan, city councillor Eddie Newman and around a dozen other councillors turning up to give their public backing.

“Thanks to everyone who came along today,” Jim said, “and there’s no doubting Manchester’s message to the Government: You need to step in now to save high street post offices,”

From England’s second city, the People’s Post Battlebus headed along the M62 to Merseyside, where the team held another campaign session outside St Helens Town Hall.

Speaking from the event, Dave Kennedy said: “It was great in Manchester earlier and it’s brilliant here in St Helens as well, right now I can hear Andy Hopping, from the CWU executive, rallying the public on his microphone, urging them to come and sign the People’s Post Card and show the Government they’ve got to act.”

North West regional secretary Carl Webb said that his region’s People’s Post Office Campaign Day had been “brilliant.

“Hundreds of people have been signing the post card – it was just non-stop,” he said, adding that, as well as the solidarity visits from local politicians, representatives from the UNISON and GMB unions had pledged their full support too.

“We’re raising the vitally important issue of the post office network and we’re also taking the TU movement out on the road. The other unions were really impressed with what we’re doing.

“I hope all the other CWU regions have as much success as we’ve had here in the North West,” He added.