Mail service threat as union considers strike mandate

MAIL services are likely to be hit if the country’s biggest postal union decides today to act on its mandate and call a national strike.

Fri, 19 Mar, 2004 - 00:00

Jim Morahan

Members of the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), who account for 90% of An Post’s staff, have already voted by a six-to-one majority in favour of industrial action.

Seán McDonagh, CWU national officer with responsibility for An Post, has said he is not optimistic a strike can be avoided. However, the union could decide to delay fixing a date for the strike to allow time for further talks.

For the past number of weeks, mail deliveries in several parts of the country have been disrupted due to unofficial disputes by CWU on a range of local issues.

The imminent strike threat centres on two issues:

The union claims An Post has failed to implement a number of pay and reward deals.

It is also unhappy at the Government’s failure to implement an agreement to set up an employee share ownership plan for staff.

Also influencing the dispute is the company’s decision to plead inability to pay the 3% pay rise due since November 1 under the Sustaining Progress national agreement.

Earlier this week, An Post urged the CWU to resume negotiations, which broke up shortly before Christmas, on the company’s major strategic plan. The plan includes cutting jobs in letter post operations by 1,350, nearly a third of the existing number.

The company says that, even if the plan is agreed, it faces an operating loss of 30.6m this year, following an anticipated loss of E46.4m. Management says they cannot afford to pay the national award until unions sign up to the recovery plan drawn up last year.

The union’s executive committee will be meeting today to decide how and when industrial action will be implemented, members already having given a mandate to strike immediately.

Under the terms of Sustaining Progress, the union may not go on strike over the pay increase until the company’s claim that it is unable to pay claim has been examined independently.