Christmas mail disruption fears ease as row ends

Paul O'Brien

But members of the Communications Workers' Union (CWU) could yet strike on a separate issue over pay and productivity.

In talks facilitated by the Labour Relations Commission, An Post management and the CWU agreed operating arrangements for the Christmas period.

The level of pay for overtime was thought to be one of the major sticking points in the lead-up to yesterday's talks.

The arrangements agreed upon are identical to last year, which should mean overtime pay of about €20 an hour.

Both sides expressed relief that agreement had been reached, and praised the work of the LRC's Tom Pomphrett in facilitating the successful outcome.

The CWU's Seán McDonagh said the deal would result in sufficient resources being put in place by An Post to ensure that all mail is delivered by Christmas Eve and "that the fiasco that occurred before Christmas 2002" would not be repeated. That year saw a dispute between postmasters and the company. More than a million Christmas cards and other items were delivered late, although An Post partly attributed the problem to late posting.

"To resolve this dispute, our 10,000 members are compelled to work with these arrangements," he said.

A spokesman for An Post said the agreement "obvious removes the threat" of a strike in the run-up to Christmas.

But the Christmas operating conditions formed just one of two fronts on which the CWU has been threatening industrial action.

The second relates to a separate agreement over pay and productivity, which was hammered out between the two sides at the LRC in March.

The CWU says An Post has not adhered to the deal, and is proceeding with a ballot of its members which seeks a renewed mandate for industrial action if it is deemed necessary.

An Post says the issue is part of the ongoing LRC process aimed at agreeing a survival package for the company, which lost €43m last year.

The result of the CWU ballot will be known on Friday.