Mail deliveries in Galway face significant disruption in advance of a national strike by postal workers on Wednesday.
Some 125,000 items of mail, due to be delivered in Galway city and county today, were left unsorted at the weekend because of a new row between An Post and the Communications Workers' Union (CWU).
If the row, over Christmas overtime arrangements, is not quickly resolved, mail deliveries in the area will collapse, a union leader said last night.
The Galway dispute erupted as the CWU continued preparations for a 24-hour national stoppage on Wednesday, which will close main post offices and force the cancellation of all mail deliveries.
The union will review its options this week but is expected to announce further strikes in the run-up to Christmas.
The State's 1,400 sub-post offices, however, will be open on Wednesday and will provide a full counter service.
The Minister for Social Affairs, Mr Brennan, yesterday announced contingency arrangements for welfare payments at the 93 offices owned by An Post in main towns and cities which will be closed for the day. Pension order books and postdraft payments, such as unemployment benefit, due for payment on Wednesday, will be available on Tuesday and Thursday.
Payments known as "paper postdraft" due on Thursday will be available from 1 p.m. on that day. These are paid to welfare recipients who miss a "signing- on" deadline for a genuine reason and get a paper authorisation from their welfare office to take to their post office.
Cheques sent by post, which are normally received on Wednesdays, will be received on either Tuesday or Thursday, Mr Brennan said.
An Post has warned that delays in delivery of mail are likely in the days following the stoppage on Wednesday.
The action, to include a demonstration by postal workers outside Dáil Éireann, is being taken because of what the CWU claims is a breach by the company of a number of agreements.
Mr Seán McDonagh, the union's national officer for An Post, said members' biggest grievance was the company's failure to pay cost-of-living pay increases for the past 14 months.
An Post has pleaded inability to pay increases due to its staff and pensioners under the Sustaining Progress agreement.
Responding to a call by Focus Ireland yesterday for the CWU not to escalate the situation into an all-out strike, Mr McDonagh said the union was concerned about the impact of its actions on the public and vulnerable people in particular. "But we're very much concerned with the big picture and how it will impact on 10,000 An Post workers and their families. Whether there is further action is very much a matter for management."
Focus Ireland's fundraising manager, Mr Mark Mellett, said the postal dispute last March had cost charities thousands of euro. "Another strike this Christmas would be a disaster," he said.
Talks aimed at resolving the dispute in Galway are expected to be convened by the Labour Relations Commission today or tomorrow.
An Post said 34 staff listed for overtime working refused to attend for work on Saturday. An Post said it deplored "this latest action" by the union
Both sides accused the other of acting in breach of a national agreement on Christmas overtime. Mr McDonagh said staff in the area would maintain an overtime ban until the dispute was resolved but he did not think the dispute would spread to other areas.