An Post refusal to pay 8.5% increase criticised

AN POST’S refusal to give workers an 8.5% pay rise could threaten the social partnership model when talks on a new national pay deal resume, the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) warned yesterday.

The union said the 5% increase sanctioned by An Post management this week, which will be backdated to January, did not go far enough. It said a portion of the increase should be backdated to November 2003 and will pursue a claim for an overall pay increase of 8.5% at the Labour Court within weeks. The CWU’s claim is in line with the Sustaining Progress national wage agreement.

CWU president Jerry Browne said the 5% increase, which was recommended by two independent assessors who were appointed after the state-owned postal company said it was unable to pay the full 8.5%, sent out “a very bad message” and was “very disappointing”. The union’s experience of the Sustaining Progress agreement had called into question the merits of signing up for a national pay deal, said Mr Browne. The CWU initially rejected the three-way agreement between unions, employers and the Government when it was first struck, but was bound by it after it was accepted by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.