A 24-hour stoppage by postal workers is to go ahead on Wednesday despite the opening of new union-management talks on the future of An Post's parcels division, SDS. Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent, reports.
In what was seen by both sides as a major breakthrough, intensive discussions are to take place over the next 10 days on the impact of the company's decision to reintegrate SDS into its main business.
A company spokesman said the Communications Workers Union (CWU), which has organised next Wednesday's stoppage, had at last recognised the reality of the SDS decision and was now prepared to discuss the impact on members.
However, the CWU's general secretary, Mr Steve Fitzpatrick, said it was the first time the company had agreed to discuss the detail of the SDS decision, which it had previously insisted was a matter for its board.
The union, he said, had never been "wedded to the bricks and mortar" of the SDS headquarters on the Naas Road in Dublin, but rather was concerned with protecting the maximum number of jobs and the growth of the parcels business.
The new round of talks are to be chaired by the former Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells. The plan to close SDS and reintegrate the business, as originally announced by An Post, would involve the loss of 270 jobs.
A company spokesman said yesterday that 260 expressions of interest in a voluntary severance package had been received from SDS staff, with several days still to go before Tuesday's deadline.
Mr Fitzpatrick said Wednesday's planned stoppage will go ahead because SDS is only one of the issues in the union's dispute with the company. The main aims of the action were to try to "protect the postal service" and to secure pay increases due to staff and company pensioners under Sustaining Progress.
An Post staff and pensioners have not received national pay increases since the company pleaded inability to pay 13 months ago.
As well as next week's 24-hour strike, the union plans to stage a "national day of protest", culminating in a demonstration outside the Dáil in the afternoon. No mail will be delivered on the day and the 93 main post offices owned by An Post will be closed.
The company says the action will cause hardship to thousands of pension and welfare recipients, not only on the day but in the following days due to knock- on effects. About 30,000 people collect pensions each Wednesday in the post offices that will be affected and 1.3 million payments are processed through post offices on Thursdays and Fridays.
Pensioners and welfare recipients are due to receive their double-week Christmas payment next week. However, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr Brennan, said contingency arrangements would be made to minimise inconvenience to claimants. These are to be announced later.
The State's 1,400 sub-post offices, which are privately run under contract from An Post, will be open as normal.
Mr John Kane, the general secretary of the Irish Postmasters' Union, said while members sympathised with their colleagues in the CWU, it was important to point out that sub-post offices would be operating a full counter service, including welfare benefit and Billpay transactions.