Onus is on An Post to resolve row

WITH Christmas looming, the move to escalate the pay row between An Post and country postmasters threatens to cause chaos for tens of thousands of people in rural areas.

The ongoing failure to sort out this long running pay dispute is a damning comment on the low priority afforded to rural Ireland by central government.

We make no apology for restating that if this long-running dispute was affecting Dublin it would be settled long ago. If postal deliveries were disrupted in the capital, politicians would be apoplectic with moral outrage.

Yet, despite causing widespread delays to deliveries in rural areas, the pay battle between An Post and hundreds of rural postmasters, has been allowed to drag on since August.

It is no exaggeration to suggest that centralised State agencies are prone to overlook the importance of maintaining basic services which are an integral part of the social fabric of people living in rural areas.

Policies dictated solely by cost cutting considerations have already led to a serious diminution of the role of the gardaí and the commercial banks in rural life. With the postal network also under threat, the latest developments are ominous.

Following a breakdown of pay negotiations with An Post, the Irish Postmasters’ Union is balloting its members on ratcheting up its industrial action in the dispute. The likelihood is that the proposal will win the overwhelming support of the union’s 1,500 members.

If a full-scale strike goes ahead it would result in closure of all services at sub-post offices except pensions and social welfare payments. Effectively large areas of the country will be left without functioning post offices in the run up to Christmas.

Such everyday transactions as payment of ESB and telephone bills, plus the recently introduced banking services, would be terminated. The sale of TV and dog licences would also be suspended.

No mail, including parcels, would be handled. Thousands of people with post office savings accounts would be unable to withdraw money locally. Instead, they would face the inconvenience of having to go to post offices in the major towns or cities.

For decades the job of postmaster has been poorly rewarded. The loss-making An Post argues, however, that postmasters’ fees have almost doubled over the past five years.

In the current dispute, a wide gulf exists between the two sides. At present postmasters get 2 an hour for opening their offices before 8am and want this increased to 42, whereas An Post has offered 6. Similar differences persist over weekend pay.

The dispute has taken a bitter twist as postmen and postwomen in many parts of the country are now sorting mail in their own homes. The threat of total closure of the post office network would deal a hammer blow to life in rural areas. It puts the onus on An Post to resolve this row sooner rather than later.

As the dispute drags on, local companies which depend on the postal service as a lifeline to their markets are becoming more vulnerable by the day.

If the strike action goes ahead, mail services will be available from fewer than 100 of the country’s 1,800

rural post offices.

With the service in danger of grinding to a halt over the busy Christmas season, it is time to knock heads together in a compromise deal.