Postal delays hit D4 in row over work practices

SOME of the country’s most expensive addresses are experiencing the slowest mail deliveries because of a dispute involving postal staff.

An Post is appealing to customers not to write or send parcels to addresses in Dublin 4 and Blackrock in south Dublin until further notice because of a backlog of mail that is expected to take about a week to sort out.

In advertisements running in newspapers today, the company says that while daily mail deliveries are continuing to affected areas, these are not keeping pace with volumes.

Some of the biggest customers hit by the problems include RTÉ, University College Dublin, AIB Group headquarters, the RDS, St Vincent’s Hospital, the Blackrock Clinic and a large number of insurance and financial services companies as well as thousands of households.

It is understood the problems result from changes in mail sorting procedures and new delivery routes being introduced across the country. The changes have been implemented in 16 of almost 80 centres so far and this is the first time they have run into serious difficulties.

About 100 of An Post’s 7,000 mail delivery staff are believed to be involved and An Post apologised to customers.

“Regretfully we have no other option but we are working very closely with the union involved and hope to achieve a fast and lasting resolution,” a spokeswoman said.

The union representing staff, the Communication Workers Union, said there was no dispute as such but that there were “pockets of resistance” to some of the changes being introduced. National officer Joe Guinan said the main issue was training for staff who were expected to adapt to the new procedures.

The changes in sorting and delivery procedures were thrashed out over months of often difficult negotiations. An Post claimed the changes were essential if the company was to survive as a commercial operation when the postal market is fully opened up to competition under EU liberalisation laws in 2011.