Postmasters' work-to-rule will cause Xmas chaos

THOUSANDS of homes and businesses around the country face massive disruption to Christmas mail delivery following a vote by postmasters in favour of industrial action.

Members of the Irish Postmasters' Union (IPU) have voted to work-to-rule two days a week until Christmas.

Their action will disrupt, on average, the delivery of up to half a million letters daily, with that number increasing as Christmas approaches.

They are expected to begin their dispute on November 8, forcing the closure off all 600 sorting facilities attached to sub-post-offices.

The postmasters are seeking additional fees from An Post for early opening of premises to allow sorting commence; for supervising sorting outside normal working hours and for dealing with registered post.

IPU general secretary John Kane said members want an out-of-hours increase from the current approximate rate of 2 per hour to 42 okper hour, in line with what it claims An Post pays company employees at its own sorting offices.

ISME (Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association) said the closures will have a major impact on small businesses.

"Most small businesses send and receive cheque payments through the post, so any disruption in delivery will have a very detrimental effect on these companies. Many of them also depend on An Post to market themselves, so that too will be disrupted, at the worst possible time of the year," said ISME chief executive Mark Fielding.

Mr Fielding also criticised An Post management for allowing the dispute to drag on, saying if it were Dublin-based, it would have been sorted out long ago. IBEC has called for a speedy resolution to the dispute.

The dispute will not effect sorting offices directly under the control of An Post, including the larger sorting facilities in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. It relates to sub-contracted offices, where many postmasters have refused since last July to open premises for sorting before 8am, or to permit the use of premises prior to this time.

A spokesman for An Post refused to speculate on the level of disruption a work-to-rule would cause, saying talks, chaired by industrial relations expert Phil Flynn, were still ongoing to resolve the dispute. However, the IPU said no progress had been made and that Friday November 8 had been selected as the provisional date on which industrial action would commence.

"We are likely to close the sorting facilities every Friday and Monday from then until Christmas. We will also be returning any registered post...to the central post office."