Post Office workers are going on strike during the jubilee weekend in a dispute over pay.
Members of the Communication Workers Union at Crown Post Offices — the larger branches often sited on high streets — will walk out on Saturday and in administration and supply chain networks on Monday.
The strikes follow industrial action earlier this month.
The union said Post Office management is insisting on a pay freeze for 2021-22 and a "marginally improved" pay offer for 2022.
CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey said: "Our members do not want to be in this situation, but they won't accept humiliation either.
"Our members worked hard to deliver an excellent annual profit for the company — affordability isn't management's problem here.
"Frankly, their degrading excuse for an offer has only hardened members, who won't tolerate a collapse in their living standards.
"We thank the public for their understanding and support, and we urge Post Office to get round the table and thrash out a real settlement that treats key worker heroes with the respect they deserve."
Around 3,500 union members are involved in the dispute.
A Post Office spokesperson said: "We want to assure our customers that the vast majority of our branches are unaffected by CWU strike action on Saturday.
"There are 114 branches, typically in city centres, that are directly managed by Post Office.
"Over two thirds would normally only be open between 9am and 12.30pm on a Saturday. We apologise to any customers who are inconvenienced by a closure."
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
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