Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 8 Apr 1993

Vol. 429 No. 5

Written Answers. - An Post Staff Restructuring.

Noel Ahern

Question:

50 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if he will make a statement on the ongoing negotiations in An Post in relation to the planned restructuring of staff with the possibility of up to 2,000 redundancies of casual and permanent staff; if the plan has been presented to him; and the likely timetable of future events.

Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications (Mr. Cowen)

My predecessors have given the House details of the nature and extent of An Post's financial problems and the reasons remedial action has to be taken by the company. I understand that, while the company's financial performance in 1992 was better than budgeted, this situation resulted from a number of favourable once-off developments. Notwithstanding this performance, An Post still has accumulated losses of almost £14 million and the company's underlying problem of high operating costs remains.

In addition, the Culliton Review of Industrial Policy pointed out that the cost of our postal service is high relative to our competitor countries and urged that An Post's financial difficulties be resolved.

In accordance with a formula drawn up by the Labour Relations Commission last year, which identified certain priority recovery measures and also provided for negotiations on further measures at a later stage, detailed management/union negotiations on the priority measures have been taking place. These measures include a transfer of overnight transport of mail from rail to road, introduction of single daily deliveries of mail in Dublin and provincial cities and the introduction of a new automated mails centre in Dublin, to replace the existing manually operated Central Sorting Office. The negotiations are now at an advanced stage. I understand that the Labour Relations Commission has agreed to provide urgent assistance in the completion of the negotiations.

Following completion of the current negotiations and the introduction of resultant priority recovery measures, An Post proposes to enter into further negotiations with the unions as envisaged by the Labour Relations Commission's formula.

I will continue to monitor very closely the financial situation of An Post and the effects of the measures being taken to return the company to commercial viability.