Staff at Prestwich Post Office will strike for the third time this year after the company’s pay offer was rejected by a workers union.

The Prestwich branch on Kingswood Road will close this month for one day alongside more than 100 other Crown Post Offices in a dispute with Post Office over pay.

The strike will take place on Monday, July 11 after workers voted overwhelming in favour of industrial action against "a massive real-terms pay cut".

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) which represents around 3,500 members involved in the dispute says its members feel "betrayed".

The news comes after the CWU rejected a pay offer three per cent with effect from April 1 this year and a £500 lump sum fee which it called "woefully inadequate".

Union members voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action by 97.3 per cent.

This will be the third national strike by Post Office workers in 2022 after previous action was taken in May and June.

Post Office collection and cash delivery workers will stage their own one-day strike on Thursday, July 14.

In addition, Royal Mail postal workers, who are also represented by the CWU, have begun balloting for what the union describes as "the biggest potential strike of the summer" against "despicable" treatment.

The union is demanding Royal Mail secures its members an increase in pay.

Commenting on the strike action, CWU North-West regional secretary Carl Webb said: “These workers worked all the way through Covid and they are key workers.

“The Post Office shamefully hid behind Covid and didn’t give them a pay award last year. 

"They’ve only been offered two per cent this year which is way below what inflation is at this moment in time.

“Its not going to be able to put food on the table and what we’re going to end up with is some of our members might even be looking at food banks or benefits because of the massive of the massive pay cut.

“And its not as though the post office isn’t profitable, they have made a profit.”

Last week, a Post Office spokesman noted that they were "disappointed" in the CWU's decision but remained "hopeful" that a pay agreement could be agreed soon.

The spokesperson added: “We want to assure our customers that the vast majority of our 11,500 branches are unaffected by the CWU decision to strike on July 11 and will be open throughout the day.

“There are 114 branches, typically in city centres, that are directly managed by Post Office and on previous strike days over a third have opened as usual."