The situation at An Post is a financial and industrial relations mess. The State company lost €46m last year and further operating losses of €30m are expected this year.
In spite of that, management and the Communications Workers' Union (CWU) are in open confrontation over a recovery plan and other long-term commitments; the taxpayer is expected to bail out this inefficient and expensive system and the Government behaves as if the situation has nothing to do with it.
Postal services in Dublin and other major centres have been disrupted and more than 400 CWU members removed from the payroll after they failed to obey instructions from management. The company said workers had refused to carry out their normal duties, while the union insisted that a work practice change had been arbitrarily imposed. And the situation is likely to worsen.
Attempts by An Post to reduce the cost of overtime through mechanisation and the introduction of new work practices are at the heart of the present dispute. Management argues the changes required to return the company to a profitable situation have already been negotiated and paid for and is reluctant to seek mediation, while the CWU accuses it of confrontation and of attempting to close down the service.
The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Ahern, suggested the two sides should resolve their differences through the State's industrial relations mechanisms. And, no doubt, such discussions will eventually take place. But the Minister ignored the contribution his own Department has made to trade union militancy by failing to legislate for an employee share ownership plan (ESOP) that would give workers a 14.9 per cent stake in the company.
Handing over free shares to the workforce at An Post may have seemed like a good idea to the Government four years ago when it was hell-bent on privatising State companies and needed to buy off union members. But the experience at Eircom and the large windfall profits enjoyed by some individuals there has altered the public perception of such largesse. The Government's unwillingness to legislate for the promised transfer of shares, along with union complaints that commitments made on pay in 2000 were not kept, prompted workers to vote overwhelmingly for strike action two weeks ago.
These grievances overlap and complicate the industrial relations issues that led to the removal of workers from the payroll at the weekend. Even if agreement is reached on new rostering and work practices, the potential for long-term disruption remains.