According to reports this morning, An Post unions say talks on a new partnership deal could be in serious trouble unless the postal service is forced to pay staff the full terms of the Sustaining Progress agreement. Talks on a new national agreement expected to begin in the autumn but staff at An Post are still waiting for pay rises due since November 2003.
An agreement was reached recently when Independent assessors appointed by the Labour Relations Commission recently recommended a 5% increase, backdated to January 1st.
Unions rejected the report and demand payment of the full 8.5% increase outstanding under the terms of Sustaining Progress.
An Post claims it is unable to pay the increase despite making a profit last year of €7 million..
The second-largest union at the company, the CPSU, said that members are angry at the prospect of new national pay talks beginning when the existing agreement has not been honoured by An Post.
The CPSU and other An Post unions plan to highlight the issue at this week's biennial conference of ICTU in Belfast.
According to reports, the union claims that the assessors failed to take account of the inherently uneconomic social obligations placed on An Post and the costs involved in meeting them. An Post has criticised unions for their refusal to accept the assessors' report, considering the unions requested the report.
The independent assessors did not rule out full payment of the Sustaining Progress increases, but said the amount outstanding should be linked to work practice changes. These are due to be implemented as part of a rationalisation of the company's collection and delivery services that could involve up to 1,500 job cuts.
