Postal services still in doubt

Postal services face further disarray today as An Post repeated its warning to the public not to post any letters or parcels because of a strike involving staff at a subcontractor’s company.

The warning was first issued last Friday but, with no resolution to the strike in sight last night, An Post said it would remain in effect until further notice.

Thirty staff of IO Systems, who maintain automated sorting systems at An Post’s main mail centres, are on strike over new rosters they say cut their overtime and pay by up to 22%.

The Communications Workers’ Union has instructed An Post staff not to operate the automated systems during the dispute, but says the warning not to post was excessive, as 40% of mail was normally sorted manually and staff were willing to sort all mail this way until the dispute was resolved.

CWU general secretary Steve Fitzpatrick said: “The decision of An Post management to shut down the postal system is a strange and reckless escalation of the dispute at IO Systems that will wreak havoc and long-term damage to the national postal service.”

However, An Post said some 80% of mail was sorted in the automated system and it could not accept post with no guarantee that it would be able to sort and deliver it within a reasonable time.

The row was expected to come to a head this morning, with An Post staff being told by the CWU to turn up for work as normal, but with the possibility that they will have no work to do.

The CWU warned that if staff were placed on protective notice as a result, the CWU would have “no alternative but to conduct a ballot for industrial action across all areas of the business”.

Such a move could bring 10,000 An Post workers to the picket line. An Post urged the CWU and IO Systems to bring their dispute to the Labour Court.