TONIGHT'S strike at the Dublin Mail Centre, which could stop deliveries of post in Dublin from tomorrow morning, may be averted. The company has indicated it might agree to negotiate with a trade union member at the centre of the dispute.
However, An Post is still advising customers not to post letters to or from the greater Dublin area as talks begin this morning at the Labour Relations Commission. Over a million items are processed by the centre every day, including all incoming international mail and Dublin mail.
A spokesman for An Post said last night that mail between provincial centres will not be affected by the dispute unless it escalates. Outgoing international mail posted outside Dublin will be dealt with through Shannon.
But if the strike goes ahead, all deliveries in Dublin will cease from tomorrow and it could rapidly spread across the State. The company intends to update thousands of business customers on the situation regularly by fax and telephone. Notices will be placed in newspapers informing the public of any changes.
While informed sources are pessimistic about the chances of averting a strike at today's talks at the LRC, there were signs that the company may be softening its stance on the controversial issue of accepting the DMC branch secretary, Mr Brian Shanny, as a union negotiator.
A spokesman for the company said last night it had indicated to the LRC and the Communications Workers' Union that it is prepared to negotiate with Mr Shanny if he attends talks as a member of the union's national executive, rather than as DMC branch secretary.
A union spokesman said this was not acceptable as the CWU executive did not become involved in local disputes. The negotiating team would consist of full time officials and local voluntary officers of the union, as usual. Mr Shanny would be one of these.
While the company's stance does not change anything, it may indicate that it is preparing to recognise Mr Shanny as a CWU negotiator once more. On July 10th it withdrew formal recognition and attempts to resolve the dispute foundered on this issue.
Both sides will be attending separate meetings with senior officials at the LRC this morning. Unless the problem of Mr Shanny's status is resolved, there will be no direct talks.
The commission's chief executive, Mr Kieran Mulvey and a senior industrial relations officer Mr Tom Pomphrett, are expected to spell out to union and management the implications of a major postal dispute for the economy and for the State monopoly when proposals are being drawn up under EU rules to regulate competition.
The Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Lowry, said the damage the dispute could do the economy was unacceptable. He is reported to be angry at the way An Post management has handled the dispute. The company has also been strongly criticised by Fianna Fail.
Last week the company said it would put alternative arrangements in place to maintain services if the strike goes ahead, but a spokesman declined to amplify on this yesterday. Both sides appeared to be refraining from making any further comments which would inflame the situation ahead of this morning's talks.
Yesterday the CWU placed advertisements in the newspapers responding to the company's advertisement on Friday criticising Mr Shanny. The company advertisement sought to place primary responsibility for the dispute on the DMC branch secretary.
Yesterday, the CWU accused the management of creating "industrial relations chaos" in An Post over the past three months, involving not just the CWU but three other unions in the company as well.
The exchange through the advertising columns has further inflamed the situation. Some management sources are admitting privately that the attack on Mr Shanny was a mistake and An Post is now saying the decision to issue disciplinary proceedings against him had not been with a view to his dismissal, as the CWU seemed to think. However, managers made no secret of the fact that they saw his removal from the DMC as a prerequisite to improving the industrial relations climate there.
Mr Shanny is now consulting legal advisers on An Post's advertisement, as well as over an incident at the centre two weeks ago where he has alleged he was assaulted by managers during a dispute involving mail being diverted to the provinces for sorting.
The emphasis on Mr Shanny has distracted attention from the substantive issues at the DMC, which caused the present dispute. These involve working conditions at the plant which resulted in a brief dispute at the DMC last January. Arising from that, the LRC issued a list of 11 recommendations to resolve the differences. The CWU says the company failed to comply with several of these and an unofficial strike at the DMC two weeks ago was averted only after the company agreed to attend talks at the LRC.
The notice of disciplinary action against Mr Shanny saw the breakdown of those talks on July 10th. A measure of the distance between the two sides is that in statements since they have been unable to agree on which of the LRC recommendations have been implemented.