DECEMBER 21ST, 1950: The run up to Christmas in 1950 was not altogether cheerful. The weather was foul and there was a partial rail strike when one of the unions in CIÉ, the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, rejected settlement proposals of a dispute which had been accepted by all the main unions.
Its effect, however, was much more widespread than simply disrupting train services, partly because other workers refused to pass pickets and partly because of the heavy restrictions preventing anyone but CIÉ from carrying cargo. Thus, its affect on postal services and distribution systems played, as this report shows, a huge part in Christmas preparations from sending turkeys to relations down to distributing films.
THE STRIKE has caused widespread dislocation in the postal service and it is now certain that thousands of parcels, letters and Christmas cards will not reach their destinations.
In Dublin, yesterday, the post offices accepted parcels for delivery locally on the GNR line or in Great Britain; but they refused thousands of others which were addressed to places on the CIÉ system.
There is a feeling of indignation among many people in Dublin who were depending for their Christmas turkey on friends or relations in the country. Since Monday or Tuesday post offices in country areas on the system have refused to accept any parcels, except those for local delivery, and people living there are faced with the problem of getting the turkeys to their friends in the city. Bus stations were filled by people trying to send them by road.
A representative of one of the big stores in Dublin told an Irish Timesreporter that, in the week before Christmas, they sent 2,000 parcels by post to the south and west each day, but the strike had stopped that, and the only parcels that they were dispatching were those to the North.
He complained that, like many other firms, their supplies were not coming through at a time when they were most needed. “Such things as shoes and blankets, which we get from native Irish industries are not being delivered,” he said.
A member of another leading firm complained that the post office had allowed itself to be taken unawares by the strike. “They were given adequate warning of the possibility of a strike and they should have had an emergency scheme ready to put into immediate action, especially in view of the approach of Christmas,” he said.
Another effect of the strike has been to “dislocate” the cinema industry in the CIÉ area. A representative of one of the film distributing companies said yesterday that the strike could not have happened at a worse time for the cinema industry.
Traders in Dublin are worried about the possibility of a prolonged strike slowing down business. A member of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce stated yesterday that many shopkeepers who were supplied from the country were already feeling the effects of the strike, but it would take time for the size of the problem to become apparent.
It is felt in some quarters that, if the strike runs into weeks, the Government should be approached to permit licensed road hauliers to carry goods outside the limit to which they are present restricted.
This restriction, together with that which prevents a trader from carrying goods for reward, puts great difficulties in the way of large-scale road haulage by private enterprise.
The cattle market in Dublin yesterday was not noticeably affected.
It was learned yesterday that the parcel mail which arrived at Cobh on Tuesday from the US, is still held there, awaiting instructions from the GPO. Only letter mail and parcels for Cork area were transferred to Cork by post office vans.
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