Vote for industrial action at An Post expected

The postal service could come to a standstill in just two weeks pending the result today of a Communications Workers' Union (CWU) ballot on industrial action.

The outcome of the ballot will not be known until 2pm. However the union said last night that there had been "very strong" support for industrial action, up to and including a strike, which would involve a total stoppage of postal deliveries.

The union opened the ballot on October 5th over its claim that An Post has failed to honour national pay agreements.

It has accused the company of failing to pay workers and pensioners cost-of-living increases due under the Sustaining Progress national agreement.

The union has rejected a Labour Court ruling that linked pay increases due under the agreement to cost savings that would affect 4,500 delivery workers. If the workers vote for industrial action the CWU will notify the company later today if strike action is to follow. The union will give An Post 14 days' notice before its members stop work.

"The ballot closes officially at 10am. We have had no access to the ballot, but from the meetings we've held nationally we're expecting it to be very strong in support of industrial action," said CWU national officer Sean McDonagh.

The CWU was putting the company in "serious jeopardy", a spokeswoman for An Post said last night.

"We have to emphasise that this is absolutely unnecessary, and industrial action, even the threat of industrial action, will be extremely dangerous for the company, the customers and ultimately the staff."

She said an Post had co-operated fully with labour relations procedures, and had accepted the Labour Court recommendations. It could not be coerced into abandoning the court's rulings.

"The Labour Court recommendations are the way forward. We spent two years of intensive work; we co-operated fully with the assessors and the expert groups established by the Labour Court."

She said the recommendations had involved major compromises by An Post as well as the workers.

"The company compromised and accepted the Labour Court recommendations, and in return for change the workforce would receive full Sustaining Progress payments."

The CWU said the changes at An Post, including the closure of the manual sorting offices and their replacement with four "automated hubs", had slowed rather than improved the service, but the company was refusing to accept any responsibility for poor delivery rates.

The company was blaming workers for its poor performance.