UP TO 10,000 jobs at An Post are under threat as a result of new legislation allowing for liberalisation of the postal market, the union representing staff at the company has claimed.
The Communications Workers Union (CWU) said the Government’s Postal Services Bill, published this week in the Seanad, would also undermine daily deliveries throughout the State, particularly in rural areas.
The CWU said the full liberalisation of the postal market could lead to the introduction of “zonal pricing” under which the universal fee for delivery of letters anywhere in the country would be replaced by a system of pricing based on the destination. It could also see mail only being delivered in certain parts of the country every second day rather than every day.
The CWU yesterday briefed TDs in Leinster House on the implications which, it maintained, would result from the implementation of the new legislation.
CWU vice-president Cormac Ó Dálaigh described the planned measure as “a cherrypickers’ charter”. He said mail deliveries within cities or from city to city could be carried out quite cheaply but that rural postal services could be very costly.
He said that traditionally An Post used profits earned in the urban areas to subsidise its rural operations. Mr Ó Dálaigh said if the legislation was enacted various companies would be able to offer elements of the current service, such as the delivery of mail for various businesses in different parts of Dublin.
