Vienna  - Austria's postal workers announced Tuesday they would hold a warning strike Wednesday to protest planned personnel cutbacks and post office closures.

To prepare the partly state-owned Oesterreichische Post AG for the end of the state monopoly on letter services in 2011, its management is reportedly planning to reduce the 25,800-strong workforce by 9,000 by 2015 and to close 77 per cent of post offices.

"We are fighting to provide the Austrian population with high- quality and nation-wide postal services," said Gerhard Fritz, leader of the postal workers' union.

"This is being threatened by the measures of the post's chief executives," he said in a statement.

Although the union said that the strike would take place Wednesday, it did not clearly define the extent or the end of the protest measures.

The Oesterreichische Post AG's chief executive Anton Wais again stated that there would be no layoffs in 2009 and asked the union to continue its dialogue with management.

"To threaten a strike before Christmas means taking the wrong path," said the manager of Oesterreichische Post AG, in which the Austrian state holds a 51-per-cent stake. (dpa)