Post office closures possible: IPU

THE deepening row between postmasters and An Post could lead to the closure of post offices and cancellation of counter services if a solution is not found, the Irish Postmaster's union (IPU) has warned.

Members of the IPU are to hold an urgent meeting in Dublin today in advance of scheduled talks with An Post on Wednesday.

However, IPU executive member Tom Kelleher said it was

unlikely an agreement could be reached. "It's quite probable that it will escalate after the meeting on Wednesday," he said, adding that parcels, swiftpost and registered post would likely all be affected in the first instance.

But, Mr Kelleher also warned the dispute could cause a closure of post offices and the cancellation of most services. "There could be possible full closure with the

exception of one day a week when we would open to pay pensions and social welfare. There are a lot of vulnerable people who rely on us and we wouldn't affect their services," he said.

The dispute, which has been dragging on since August, involves 550 sorting divisions in sub post offices. The remainder of the country's 1,600 post offices remain unaffected by the action.

The dispute, in which postmasters are refusing to operate sorting services on Mondays and Fridays, is part of a campaign by rural postmasters for a pay rise in their An Post contracts in return for working before 8am. The IPU said yesterday members were owed 25 months' back pay and accused An Post of using delaying tactics.

"The company's policy towards the Postmaster's Union has always been to delay payments and then to add on strings at the end to blackmail us with our own money," Mr Kelleher said.

An Post spokesperson John Foley denied the allegation, saying the company would not budge without a wage review. "We will conduct an in-depth review and analyse the remuneration and that is our starting point," he said. But the IPU said the review was nothing more than a means to further delay payments to postmasters. "The review is another stalling device," Mr Kelleher said, adding that An Post was aiming for full automation which would likely eliminate the postmasters within five years.

Initially, the mail sorting row affected services in Co Mayo, but has spread to Waterford where An Post drafted in extra staff to clear a backlog after staff staged a sit-in over the sorting of mail.

Meanwhile, An Post is diverting mail to main urban sorting offices, asking over 1,000 postmen to sort it at home and setting up temporary sorting facilities where necessary to avoid disruption to services.