An Post staff to get pay rises as company restructures
An Post's programme seeks to chart a path to a sustainable future for the company which posted a combined €60m loss over the last two years.
An Post staff will get pay rises of up to 5% from any savings achieved through the restructuring of its mail network, the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) has said.
General secretary of the CWU, Sean McDonagh, was speaking as the company embarks this week on a major review of the network which includes proposals to close or consolidate more than 20 local district sorting offices — mostly in Mayo and Cork.
The scale of the proposed changes is outlined in an agreement between An Post and the CWU on a company transformation programme which was endorsed by the union on May 26. The CWU represents some 8,500 of An Post's 9,000 staff.
The programme seeks to chart a path to a sustainable future for the company which posted a combined €60m loss over the last two years. The mail network review, which starts this week, will focus on district sorting offices (DSOs) in the company’s 20 district sorting units (DSUs). It could take up to 18 months to complete.
Postal staff use DSOs to prepare mail for local delivery. They were also where undelivered mail was retained for collection by customers later until a decision was made to leave undelivered mail at local post offices for collection.
While An Post stressed that no decisions have been made pending the outcome of the review, the can reveal that more than 20 DSOs, spread across Dublin, Mayo, Sligo, Cork and Kerry, are being considered for closure or consolidation, including:
- : Rutland Place DSO to be consolidated into Ravensdale Road;
- : Ballina DSU to be relocated to incorporate nine other DSOs in the region;
- : an extension is planned for its sorting office to incorporate four other operations;
- : The Midleton DSU will be closed and relocated into the main Cork mails centre. Ballincollig sorting office is being considered for closure and incorporation into the Macroom DSU which will be relocated. Bantry DSU will be re-sited to incorporate Dunmanway, Kealkil and Glengarriff.
- : An Post is looking at the potential for a new Tralee site, incorporating Listowel DSU and four as yet unidentified DSOs.
A spokesman for An Post said the review process is mainly about matching the company’s mail operations and network to the change in the work it does. “Nothing is being done without the full agreement of our staff and with our customers in mind,” he said.
Mr McDonagh said the union has engaged intensively with An Post management on the agreement over the last 18 months, and on the implementation of agreed pay rises which have delivered a 5% pay increase in two instalments.
“The union also secured a cumulative 10.4% pensions increase for An Post staff and pensioners,” he said. “The final elements of these pension increases awaits approval from the Ministers for Communications and for Expenditure and Reform.”
