Talks aimed at stemming the huge financial losses at An Post are to begin at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) today.
The two sides involved, management and the Communications Workers' Union, continued to argue yesterday over a range of issues as the postal service began to return to normal.
The company began removing covers from postboxes in Dublin. The postboxes had been sealed during the two-week dispute, which ended last week. It has warned, however, that mail will continue to be subject to delays for some days.
The latest in a series of rows between the company and the CWU arose from management's plan to hire 200 casual workers to help clear the backlog of mail. Union representatives claim the decision was made in breach of a 1992 agreement obliging the company to consult it on the hiring of temporary staff.
The parties failed to resolve the issue yesterday at a meeting between the company's Dublin area management and local CWU leaders.
A spokesman for An Post said the meeting lasted for five minutes, "at which we told them what we are going to do". He claimed the union was opposed to the decision to hire extra casual staff because of the consequent loss of overtime for its members.
However, the company intended to clear the backlog of mail as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. The 1992 agreement did not apply, he added, because it was superseded by the Transformation Through Partnership (TTP) deal of 2000.
A CWU spokesman disputed all of the company's assertions.
The meeting had lasted 55 minutes rather than five, he said.
At the meeting, the company had said it was setting aside existing agreements because of the perilous nature of the financial state of the company. "In other words, they acknowledged they were breaching an agreement. They said nothing about relying on the TTP." The two sides had decided to refer the matter "upwards", to senior management in the company's case and to the union's national leadership, the CWU spokesman said. The union would also be raising the issue with the LRC, with other alleged management breaches of agreements.
The row is indicative of worsening relations between the two sides since LRC proposals setting out a basis for talks were accepted by both last week.
A key aim of the company in the talks will be to reduce its huge overtime bill, which is contributing to losses of €600,000 a week. It is also seeking to reduce staff numbers in its letter-post division by 1,350.
Earlier talks broke down after the company pleaded inability to pay the 3 per cent pay increase due to staff under Sustaining Progress. That issue is now to be discussed as part of the LRC-chaired talks, which are to be completed by mid-May.
