CWU and Irish An Post agree to attend LRC talks

An Post and the Communications Workers Union have agreed to attend talks under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission in an effort to resolve an ongoing dispute between both sides.

The exploratory talks are due to begin tomorrow.

An Post has already suspended more than 500 workers at its Dublin mail centre because of their refusal to comply with new sorting procedures that, they say, were introduced without consultation.

An Post said the workers were suspended for refusing to carry out normal duties.

The row over the sorting procedures is the latest development in a larger dispute between An Post and the CWU over workers’ pay and conditions.

CWU members in An Post have already voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action over the company’s failure to implement pay and reward deals and the Government’s failure to implement an employee-share ownership plan.

The CWU’s national executive has delayed a decision on whether to exercise the strike mandate and said today that it hoped the planned LRC talks could end the dispute.

It has also called on An Post to halt the suspension of workers while the talks are ongoing.