Standoff in An Post parcel row pushes company to brink of an all-out strike
AN POST moved closer to a strike or lock-out last night when management ordered dozens of parcel sorters off the premises in a row over the company’s decision to close the SDS parcels depot in west Dublin.
More than 40 postal workers had been suspended by 8pm and a further 25 on the late shift faced a similar lock-out or suspension later as peace talks continued into the night at the Labour Relations Commission.
The management took a tough stance when some sorters refused to load parcels which had arrived off a US flight for transit to a separate parcels depot in Portlaoise. The company intends to shut the SDS Naas Road depot next week with 280 staff facing redundancy and a further 170 being offered jobs within the post office and local delivery office networks.
Last month the main union, the Communications Workers’ Union, held a one-day protest strike over the closure of the SDS and to highlight deteriorating industrial relations within the loss-making semi-state company. The management had threatened to sue the union for any losses arising from that one-day stoppage.
Last night, a spokesman said that the extent of the losses arising from the strike had been calculated but he declined to disclose the figure. The management has yet to carry out its threat to sue the CWU to recover its losses despite sending letters to the union six weeks ago threatening to do so.
CWU deputy leader Terry Delaney said that the staff suspensions were ordered just three hours in advance of conciliation talks at the Labour Relations Commission on the reassignment of SDS staff. He said that some Dublin-based employees had been given letters telling them to report for duty at Portlaoise from next week.
Industrial relations in An Post have deteriorated since a management attempt to push through new working practices last March led to a 10-day disruption and the suspension of nearly 600 staff.
