My Department received an outline recovery strategy from An Post on 30 September last year. I met the board of An Post in October and expressed the importance of the early agreement and implementation of the recovery strategy with specified savings and timescales for delivery. A core element of the strategy is a change management programme, which is subject to discussion and agreement with the relevant trade unions in An Post. I understand talks on the change management element of the recovery strategy are ongoing with the trade unions in An Post with the exception of one union, the Communications Workers Union, CWU. The final agreement on the plan is obviously contingent of the outcome of these negotiations. Provisional numbers in terms of staffing reductions amounting to approximately 1,500 are envisaged by the company at this stage.
In regard to the implementation of the ESOP, the transfer of shares to employees is dependent on the achievement of specified cost savings. My Department is in correspondence with the board of An Post on the verification of the cost savings which would trigger any initial transfer of shareholding to employees. However, overall policy on the ESOP has not changed. The Government is still committed to the ESOP process if it can be demonstrated that real transformation has occurred and that the cost savings agreed as part of the ESOP have been achieved.
