The union representing staff at An Post and Eir has agreed multiyear pay deals with the companies worth 8 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
The Communications Workers Union (CWU), which has been in talks with the two companies since before Christmas, announced the deals in advance of the start of its biennial conference in Galway on Wednesday.
The deal with An Post, which runs until the end of next year, provides for a 4 per cent increase backdated to January 1st, a 3 per cent increase for the start of January 2025 and a further 1 per cent from June 1st next year.
The Eir agreement, which was reached after talks at the Workplace Relations Commission, (WRC) runs over 33 months, until the end of March 2027, and provides for total increases of 11 per cent for those earning up to €50,000 and 10 per cent for those earning up to €70,000.
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The two groups will receive 6.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively during the first 12 months of the period covered. Overall, the increases will be paid in six instalments.
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Members of the union will be balloted on the agreements in the coming weeks.
Commenting on the An Post deal, CWU general secretary Seán McDonagh said he believed the increases agreed were recognition of “the essential contribution of workers to the transformation of the company”.
He said the agreement with Eir included provisions to address issues of work-life balance, progression to management grades and improved pay for apprentices.
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He described both as “the culmination of difficult and protracted negotiations against the backdrop of high inflation, higher interest rates and increased pressures on household budgets for ordinary workers trying to support themselves and their families. We had ground to make up which I believe we have in the agreements we are recommending to members.”
About 500 delegates are due to attend the CWU conference which will debate motions on a wide of issues relating to the communications sector including one on Wednesday aimed at protecting postmen who refuse to deliver letters from Israel from disciplinary action, the protection of five-day deliveries and the retirement age at Eir.
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