Some 40 An Post employees, half of them managers, are performing no duties despite getting full pay.
The company confirmed yesterday that 20 managers assigned to a "resource centre" after restructuring last year were reporting for work but had no functions to perform.
Another 20 customer-service staff have done no work this week since their jobs were outsourced to a call centre last Monday during the 18-hour strike at the GPO.
An Post declined to discuss how much it was costing to maintain the resource centre at College House on Townsend Street, Dublin.
Most of the 20 managers there, who were designated as "unassigned" after the restructuring last year, are assistant principals earning between €50,000 and €60,000 a year. A minority are higher-earning senior managers at principal officer level.
The staff involved became surplus to requirements after the company reduced management posts by 30 per cent to reduce costs. Most are represented by the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants, which argued last year that a role should be found for the staff concerned.
The decision to assign them to the resource centre, however, arose from a binding recommendation issued by the Labour Court in October last year.
It said staff who failed to get a post under the new management arrangements should be offered voluntary severance terms. Those who declined this should be assigned suitable project work. Otherwise they should be relocated to the resource centre.
A company spokeswoman said project work was being offered to the managers when it became available, but at present there were 20 managers assigned to the resource centre for whom there was no work.
They were, however, being offered the opportunity to receive training, while consultants were available to advise them of career options.
Meanwhile, An Post says it is willing to restore customer-service duties to its GPO staff provided it gets a guarantee from the Communications Workers' Union (CWU) that such staff will not take part in future industrial action.
The union, however, says it cannot discuss the matter with the company as, by outsourcing the work of the GPO staff, management is engaging in "unofficial industrial action".
A report by independent accountants on cost factors in dispute between An Post and the CWU is expected to be delivered to the National Implementation Body on Monday.
