Royal Mail workers to strike on Christmas Eve to support sacked colleague

Postal workers in Keynsham are to go on strike on the two days before Christmas – in support of a postman in the town who has just been sacked.

Paul Hollow was dismissed on the last day of November, and his dismissal has outraged his colleagues so much they are refusing to deliver Christmas mail on December 23 and 24.

The postmen and women at the Keynsham delivery office – which delivers to the BS31 postcode – voted for the strike just a couple of days later.

The Communications Workers Union has issued the Royal Mail with a strike notice, and if the strike goes ahead as planned, it could mean no mail is collected or delivered in BS31 from Saturday, December 21 to Friday, December 27.

However, bosses at Royal Mail say “correct procedures have been followed” and they still expect to offer a full service to customers over the strike days.

The striking postal workers are all members of the CWU and said the management of the Royal Mail in Bristol had badly let down Mr Hollow, a 38-year-old father of three.

A CWU spokesperson said Mr Hollow was sacked last week under the sickness process, which it believes was wrongly applied.

“His colleagues are believed to be outraged and voted to take strike action as the absences he was dismissed for were due to a series of personal tragedies,” he said.

“Paul lost a close family member to cancer, another was diagnosed with cancer and he himself faced a cancer scare in short succession.

“He suffered a period of depression which took him out of the workplace. Paul was back at work and hoping he had put the worst behind him, but instead of receiving support from his employer, he was called into a meeting and sacked.

“The dismissing manager claimed there were ‘no mitigating circumstances’,” he added.

Mr Hollow was, until November 30, the postman for the round in the St Clements and Park Road area of Keynsham but his wife and three children now face an uncertain future, he said.

“I am in shock. I saw this as my career for the next thirty years,” he said.

‘Cancer has devastated my family’

“I am the main breadwinner for my family. We live paycheck to paycheck and now I don’t know how we will get through Christmas. I’ve always worked really hard at my job and been really flexible, working wherever the company sent me.

“Cancer has devastated my family over the last few years and I thought I was next. I thought Royal Mail would be supportive but they have completely let me down when I needed them,” he added.

The local branch secretary for the CWU, Rob Wotherspoon, branded the case ‘one of the most callous’ he’d ever seen.

“We believe there are major errors of process, but more than that; managers have completely failed to apply basic standards of human decency,” he said.

“This decision is both heartless and brainless. Royal Mail touts its credentials around mental health but this case suggests that unfortunately this is just an exercise in public relations.

“Postmen and women in Keynsham have voted overwhelmingly to take strike action to defend Paul, they deserve the respect and support of anyone who values compassion in the workplace,” he added.

One of the striking postal workers at the Keynsham delivery office said everyone working there did not want to go on strike, but claimed they had been ‘pushed’ into it by Royal Mail.

“We are completely united in our disgust at the way our colleague has been treated,” said the postal worker, who did not want to be named.

“We want to see deeds, not merely words and lip service paid to the very real issue of mental health awareness. We didn’t want to be pushed into strike action, but unfortunately we have by Royal Mails decision to unjustly sack our colleague,” he added.

Royal Mail statement

A Royal Mail spokesperson said the authority was ‘disappointed that industrial action has been announced’.

They said: “While we do not comment on the details of individual cases, we can confirm that the correct procedures have been followed in this matter.