Rural areas may get mail

POSTAL workers will aim to deliver mail to those living in rural areas despite today’s closure of all sorting facilities at 540 sub-post offices run by the Irish Postmasters Union (IPU).

In a unique deal between An Post and their union, 1,500 postal workers will sort the mail in their own homes.

“It’s not ideal but it’s something we have to do in the current situation,” a spokesman for An Post said last night. “We are confident the arrangement will work.” The IPU, who say they will close sorting facilities on Mondays and Fridays until Christmas, lashed their sister union over its “collaboration” and accused the company of “dirty tricks.”

Con Scanlon, general secretary of the Communications Workers’ Union, said the action by the postmasters threatened the jobs of postal workers, who had co-operated with them for the past three months. He said the IPU action put CWU members in the front line.

“Some people, because of their contracts, could lose their jobs,” Mr Scanlon said.