An Post expects rural mail deliveries will be back to normal before the end of the week, following a settlement of the dispute with postmasters yesterday.
Some 845 members of the Irish Postmasters' Union voted in favour of a revised offer from An Post, while 36 voted against. The dispute, over a range of pay issues, has affected postal deliveries in rural areas since mid-August.
Sub-postmasters and postmistresses refused to open their offices before 8 a.m., thereby delaying postal deliveries. In recent weeks the action escalated and the delivery of Christmas post was threatened.
Under the new agreement, postmasters and postmistresses will receive improved pay for opening their sub-post offices before 8 a.m., and for Saturday work.
IPU members will no longer sort mail under the new arrangement. They will also receive an agreed 1 per cent Programme for Prosperity and Fairness payment, as well as back pay due under a review of mail-work conducted in 2000.
Both the IPU and An Post expressed satisfaction the dispute had finally come to an end.
A four-person committee, comprising IPU and An Post members, has been set up to review the agreement and to report on its operation by next March. If any further benefits are recommended, they will be backdated to January 2003.
The dispute had not greatly inconvenienced the public, according to Mr John Foley, An Post spokesman.
He said deliveries had been delayed by a few hours in some cases but people had not rushed to post their Christmas items early because of the dispute. It was now full steam ahead for the busy Christmas period, Mr Foley said.
However, a small number of postal workers refused to return to the sub-post offices to sort mail yesterday.
The Communications Workers' Union (CWU) said 99 per cent of the 1,100 postal workers had returned to the sub-post offices. The other workers had not returned for a variety of reasons, according to Mr Stephen Fitzpatrick, CWU officer.
He said some workers had not returned because of a breakdown in communication, while others were protesting at their working conditions. It is also understood rancour had emerged between some postmasters and their colleagues. The IPU criticised the CWU for allowing its members to make alternative arrangements to sort mail during the dispute.
However, An Post and the CWU said they expected these issues to be resolved quickly. The offices affected yesterday included Mitchelstown, Templemore and parts of Limerick, Galway, Laois and Meath.
