Post offices across Wales will be given grants of more than £500,000 to help them expand their businesses.
Carl Sargeant, Minister for Local Government and Communities, says the sum of £526,698.45 will be given to post offices to help diversify their businesses and will enable them to provide new services for the community.
Thousands of Post Offices will close unless they win a “vital” £600 million DVLA contract, post-masters have warned in a letter to the transport secretary.
George Thomson, the general secretary of the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, which represents most of the UK’s 11,500 Post Offices, has told Justine Greening that thousands of outlets would “struggle to survive” if Post Office Limited fails to win the work.
The contract in question relates to the DVLA, the Government’s car licensing division which is subject to significant cost-cuts.
via Post-masters lobby Government for ‘vital’ contract – Telegraph.
A busy post office and two hotels in Sydney’s west and inner west were raided by armed robbers carrying guns and knives yesterday.
Three men wearing balaclavas and armed with a shotgun and a knife, stormed the Emerton post office in Sydney’s west yesterday afternoon and threatened staff and customers before stealing cash. No customers were harmed but a 90-year-old woman was taken to hospital suffering shock. The trio fled in a silver Holden Commodore that was last seen travelling down Jersey Road.
via Armed robbers hit post office, pubs – National News – National – General – Avon Valley Advocate.
From Royal Mail:
Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes’ win celebrated with next day Olympic Gold Medal Stamp.
This follows Peter Wilson’s Gold Medal for Team GB in the Men’s Double Trap Shooting and Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott’s Gold Medal in the Men’s Canoe Double, these bring the Team GB total to Five Gold Medals. Read the rest of this entry »
Despite repeated claims made by the postal authorities that rakhis sent by mail would be delivered before the festival day on August 2 to different destinations, the mail could not be cleared till Thursday and bags full of rakhis were seen lying at the Railway Mail Service (RMS) Ambala Cantonment station.
via Postal service dept fails to deliver 50,000 bags of rakhis – Indian Express.
APWU Web News Article 93-2012, Aug. 2, 2012
A recent highway funding law contains a provision of special interest to postal and federal employees: The legislation authorizes federal agencies to allow full-time retirement-eligible employees to opt for “phased retirement.” The phased retirement provision will take effect when the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issues regulations for implementing the new law. Read the rest of this entry »
From the American Postal Workers Union:
As we reported in June, the APWU has been engaged in informal conversations with management on financial incentives to encourage employees to leave the Postal Service.Although no official offers have been made, discussions are continuing, APWU President Cliff Guffey has reported.“I understand that there is great interest in this topic among some members, but it is simply not feasible or smart to conduct negotiations in public,” he said.“As additional information becomes available, we will keep members informed. This process cannot be rushed. In the meantime, please rest assured that needs of APWU members are uppermost in our mind. We will not be pressured into accepting an offer that is not in the best interests of our members.”
via Update on Incentives.
A former premier of Nova Scotia is threatening to quit the federal Conservative Party over changes to the rural mail delivery system near Amherst.
Roger Bacon says a shift towards community mailboxes instead of home delivery on rural routes is both expensive and dangerous for senior citizens who will now have to drive to a central location to get their mail.
"Now, is it better to have seven mail drivers who are expert drivers and have done it for years … or is it better to have 500 senior citizens going down an icy road? Where is the safety in it?"
via Rural mail change sparks protest from former premier – Nova Scotia – CBC News.
An Employment Tribunal found that Abdul Musa, a former worker at Blackburn sorting office in Lancashire, was called “P—” on a daily basis while other ethnic minorities were also labelled “wops” and “jungle bunnies”.
But when Mr Musa, 57, complained about the behaviour of one member of staff, who he said had mocked Indian accents, his colleagues ostracised him, stepping up the abuse and intimidating others into not speaking to him, the tribunal found.
The local branch of the Communication Workers Union called a meeting to discuss industrial action in protest at the man’s suspension.
When an Asian employee tried to join the meeting he found his entry barred as one person shouted: “Don’t let him in he’s from the dark side,” the panel found.
Read more: Union 'hampered racism investigation at sorting office' – Telegraph.
Royal Mail have this morning made good their promise to paint a post box gold in the home towns of any gold-winning Olympians.
Penzance’s golden girl Helen Glover secured Team GB’s first gold in the London 2012 Olympics with partner Heather Stanning in the women’s pair rowing.
This morning Royal Mail officials took to Penzance Harbour with pots of paint and brushes and gave the iconic red post box a lick of under-paint before painting it with gold.
via Penzance post box turned gold in honour of Olympian Helen Glover | This is Cornwall.
