An Post offering Cork workers opting for redundancy an extra €10,000

An Post is offering workers opting for voluntary redundancy when a mail centre closes next year up to €10,000 extra on top of existing severance terms.

The State company intends closing the Cork Mail Centre by the end of March 2020 with the loss of 240 jobs as the number of letters An Post handles continues to fall.

Workers who choose voluntary redundancy will be offered extra payments of up to €10,000 on top of the six weeks' pay per year of service already on the table following a Labour Court recommendation.

A circular from Communications Workers' Union general secretary Steve Fitzpatrick to members at the Cork sorting office shows that full-time staff opting to leave will get €10,000, while part-time employees who choose to go will get €7,000.

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The document states that the “additional lump sum” will be part of the total severance package and paid on termination of the employment.

An Post’s existing package offers staff six weeks’ pay for every year of service, up to a total of two years’ pay, if they choose redundancy.

The company has pledged to redeploy staff within the Cork area if they choose to stay in its employment, and is offering workers further education/training grants of up to €3,000 per person.

Those who have worked for An Post for two years or more and who are under 60 qualify for the extra lump sums.

The court’s recommendation also opens An Post’s voluntary redundancy scheme to workers at the Cork facility aged over 60.

Normally those aged between 60 and the normal retirement age of 65 who leave can draw their pension down early, but take a cut in this benefit as a result. In the case of the workers in Cork, An Post has agreed that they can take the voluntary redundancy deal instead.

“For Cork Mail Centre members who do not wish to avail of these revised severance terms the union will ensure reasonable redeployment options are made available by the company,” says Mr Fitzpatrick.

An Post is closing the sorting office and investing in its parcel sorting and e-commerce network in Cork. The company says that the centre is operating at about 25 per cent of its full capacity.