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.

Mr Browne said the assessors’ report failed to take full account of the company’s true financial picture. There was also concern about the financial position of An Post pensioners if the full increase sought by the union went unpaid.

It was “quite conceivable” that strike action would be necessary if agreement could not be reached through the mechanisms of the Labour Relations Commission and Labour Court, he added. The union said An Post was one of only a small number of employers that had used the inability-to-pay clause of the Sustaining Progress deal to keep its wage bill down.

The assessors’ report, which aimed to provide an independent view on An Post’s financial position and its ability to meet the terms of the deal, was not binding on either party. But An Post welcomed it and said it was fair and reasonable.

The company reported after-tax profits of €6.5m last year, an improvement of €45m on the previous year. Exceptional items contributed over €5m to the bottom line.