Postal workers' strike march to cause travel chaos

Motorists in Dublin city centre are facing chaos today as several thousand striking postal workers march on Leinster House.

An Post employees are taking their campaign to the steps of the Dáil in a bid to resolve a pay dispute and end plans to reintegrate the company’s Special Delivery Service.

The Communication Workers Union said management had broken a series of agreements including the failure to give CWU workers pay rises for the past two years.

Around 30,000 social welfare payments will be delayed because of the action, which could disrupt mail deliveries well into the weekend.

Union chiefs said 2,000 union members were expected to assemble at the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square at lunchtime.

Workers will march down O’Connell Street, past the General Post Office, to Kildare Street with politicians and trade unionists rallying supporters.

Union chiefs have said they are angered over the closure of the company’s Special Delivery Service.

A plant at Newlands Cross on the Naas Road near Dublin is to be sold for more than €30m to fund a redundancy scheme for more than 250 workers.

A spokeswoman for An Post said the strike was unnecessary and in clear breach of procedures.

“The CWU is ignoring agreed industrial relations procedures by taking unofficial industrial action, which will accelerate the undermining of public confidence in the mail system,” she said.

An Post added the action would deliver a further damaging blow to a business which is in decline and had an operational loss of €43m last year.

The CWU executive will meet again on Thursday to discuss its next moves in the dispute.

The company said 1,350 sub-post offices nationwide will be open tomorrow. Many of these handle social welfare payments.