A decision on whether to hold a national postal strike is to be discussed by the biggest union in An Post tomorrow.
Members of the Communications Workers' Union (CWU) have already voted by a six-to-one majority in favour of industrial action at the State company.
Its executive committee is to meet to decide how and when the action will be implemented. It has a mandate to begin a strike immediately.
Mr Seán McDonagh, the union's national officer with responsibility for An Post, said yesterday he was not optimistic that a strike could be avoided.
The union could decide to delay fixing a date for the strike to allow time for further talks, but going ahead with the action was also an option being considered, he said.
Officially, the strike threat is over two issues. The union claims the company has failed to implement a number of pay and reward deals.
It is also unhappy at the Government's failure to implement an agreement to establish an employee share ownership plan (ESOP) for An Post staff.
In the background to the dispute, however, is the company's decision to plead inability to pay the 3 per cent pay rise due to staff under the Sustaining Progress agreement.
It says it cannot afford to pay the increase until unions sign up to a recovery plan drawn up last year, designed to drastically cut costs. The plan includes cutting jobs in its letter post operations by 1,350, nearly a third of the existing number.
Even if the strategic plan is agreed, the company says, it faces an operating loss of €30.6 million this year, following an anticipated loss of €46.4 million in 2003.
An Post says the CWU, which represents about 90 per cent of its staff, "abruptly" broke off negotiations on the plan in December.
Mr McDonagh claims the union withdrew following an intervention in the discussions by the company's chief executive, Mr Donal Curtin, and a subsequent decision not to pay the 3 per cent increase.
That action had put "the tin hat" on a series of developments leading up to the current dispute, he said.
While the threatened strike was not directly about the 3 per cent rise, the company could alleviate the situation by agreeing to pay the increase.
Under the terms of Sustaining Progress, the union is precluded from going on strike over the pay increase until the company's inability-to-pay claim has been independently examined.
An Post, in turn, accuses the CWU of failing to deliver on a series of productivity agreements.
A key element of its strategic plan, it says, is the need to reduce overtime, which in Dublin accounts for more than 50 per cent of payroll costs.
It says overtime has effectively become part of basic pay for many staff. In return for eliminating this, it is prepared to negotiate salary increases linked to productivity.
Staff-management relations at the company have been poor for some time.
