UNION members will hold a demonstration outside Great Greenford Post Office on Saturday (March 30) in protest at proposed changes to the branch.

Communications Workers Union (CWU) members will strike between 10am and noon as part of a national protest about pay conditions and protecting jobs and services.

Huw Davies, who represents Post Office counter staff in the Greater London area, said: "We’re asking the people of Greenford to support their post office workers and join us to send a strong message that this service is needed.

A CWU spokesperson said: "You can run franchise offices cheaper than Crown but you are compromising the service. People who have worked in the post office for years build up personal relationships with customers as well as great expertise and knowledge."

The Post Office said it is very disappointed that the CWU has decided to call strike action in its 370 Crown branches. They condemned the CWU’s refusal to understand the requirement for critical change across the Crown network which is currently losing £40m a year.

They also stressed that action will do nothing to change the need to drive forward its transformation strategy aimed at building a profitable, modern and commercially viable Crown network that is not reliant on government funding.

They said the offer of a series of cash payments of up to £3,400 to be paid before April 2015 remains and is extremely fair at a time when the Crown network is operating at a loss.

Kevin Gilliland, Network and Sales Director at the Post Office, said: “The CWU is ignoring the harsh commercial realities being faced by the post office and other retailers across the UK.”

On February 7 the Post Office announced its intention to franchise 70 of the remaining 373 UK wide Crown offices, as part of its Crown Transformation Programme, designed to restore the Crown Office Network to profitability by 2015.

A further six offices will be closed through a programme of merging two offices into one.

This places almost 20 per cent of the UK Crown Office Network under threat, putting one in five jobs at risk and leaving over 800 dedicated staff facing an uncertain future.

To sign the online petition, go to: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/46277