Strikers force Irish post office to open up
Unofficial strike action has prompted An Post to open its doors to the public to collect mail and help clear a backlog of an estimated 20,000 items.
About 35,000 items were piled up in Drogheda last night with 15,000 unprocessed piecesof post in Galway in the unofficial action by the Communication Workers Union in a rowover overtime in Drogheda and working accommodation in Tuam.
An Post spokeswoman Anna McHugh appealed to union leaders to end the unofficial action.
Customers in Drogheda have been asked to avoid using the postal service for a few days while the public have been asked not to post letters into Tuam to help “minimise thebacklog”.
Ms McHugh said that many customers have been left waiting for passports and cheques.
Up to 50pc of households in the Tuam district have not received mail for more than a week. Members of the public thronged to the post office on Tuesday and Wednesday to retrieve their post.
An Post is due to lose 42m this year and management is planning to axe 1,300 jobs to reduce costs. It has imposed a pay freeze Staff in Tuam agreed yesterday to bring out ondelivery a batch of the oldest mail, some of which is 10 days old.
