An Post has won a High Court injunction today preventing postmasters from closing their premises on the Saturday preceding the June Bank Holiday.
The company took action against 43 postmasters who opted to close their offices on Holy Saturday - the last bank holiday weekend.
It claimed postmasters were contractually obliged to open five and a half days a week, including Saturday mornings.
But in an Irish Postmasters' Union (IPU) ballot last year, members unanimously voted for individual choice on whether or not they opened on a bank holiday Saturday.
They also voted that if any disciplinary action was taken against postmasters opting to close, there would be a total shutdown of the post office network in protest.
Since then the union has advised its members they have the option of providing a service on the five Saturdays which precede bank holiday Mondays. Of 75 out of 1,400 who chose not to open on April 10th, 43 refused to provide assurances they would not close on subsequent bank holiday Saturdays.
In effect, An Post claimed that by choosing to close, the postmasters were taking industrial action.
This, the court heard, was unlawful because under the Industrial Relations Act postmasters are employers rather then employees of An Post and therefore not protected by certain immunities surrounding the right to strike.
Counsel for An Post, Mr Tom Mallon SC, said postmasters throughout the country were obliged to provide services for bill payments, social welfare and benefit payments on behalf of An Post and by not doing so, they were in breach of contract.
"The hours of opening are up to the company and it is not up to the postmaster or the union to change them," he said. "If they fail to offer services An Post will suffer a loss, customers will take their business elsewhere."
He said An Post was seeking an interlocutory injunction simply to "maintain the status quo" that post offices remain open on a Saturday morning.
In defence, Mr Anthony Kerr SC, claimed the postmasters were legitimate workers involved in a trade dispute with An Post. He said nowhere did it state that opening on a Saturday morning was mandatory.
Mr Justice Kelly ruled this was a serious case that ought to be brought to trial as a matter of urgency. He concluded that although the ballot had been conducted in accordance with the rules of the union this was not a trade dispute.
His injunction banned postmasters from withdrawing their services on Saturday June 5th and also banned the IPU from advising members they had the option of closing on this date.
The trial was listed for mention on June 14th.