An Post services face 'kiss of death'

The Government has been accused of giving the "kiss of death" to social services provided by An Post by refusing to address the urgent need for State financial support for the semi-state company.

The claim was made by the financial secretary of the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU), Mr Eoin Ronayne, who accused the Government of hiding behind An Post's board, rather than facing up to the reality that An Post cannot deliver its current range of social service obligations without Government funding.

Addressing delegates at the union's annual conference in Ennis at the weekend, Mr Ronayne said: "You can't slash your way through a €43 million loss without crippling the loss- making services such as rural post deliveries and the sub-post-offices". He said the Government should come clean and "Minister Ahern should say clearly that the Government has given its approval to the dismantling of the local postal service or commit an urgent social service subvention for these services".

Deputy general secretary Ms Rosaleen Glackin told delegates that the union has secured €7.5 million from the Department of Finance arising from a successful pay claim on incremental credit. Ms Glackin said 1,500 members will benefit from the agreement, with some receiving between €6,000 and €7,000 back-money.

The conference was also told that the CPSU has lodged a legal challenge against the €1.1 billion benchmarking pay deal, which could force the Department of Finance to reveal tightly guarded data upon which the controversial pay deal is based.

The union has lodged a detailed submission to the Office of the Director of Equality Investigation, arguing that the deal unfairly awarded higher pay increases to the more senior male-dominated grades and lower increases to junior clerical grades which are mainly composed of women.

General secretary Mr Blair Horan told the conference that the union has a comprehensive and strong case to show that the collective agreement for the Civil Service discriminates against women in clerical officer grades. The CPSU was the only Civil Service union to reject the benchmarking pay deal but accepted the majority decision of ICTU to support the deal.