This article is from page 16 of the 2008-01-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
AFTER a two year delay, plans by An Post to move mail sorting and de- livery services from two Clare post offices to Shannon are now likely to go ahead in March.
Staff at the offices in Sixmilebri- dge and Newmarket-on-Fergus have been in dispute with the company since it announced its intention to permanently redeploy them to Shan-
non.They have now been advised by their union to accept recommenda- tions issued by the Labour Relations Commission following conciliation Fe EM Wioled ©
While further talks are scheduled to take place between the Communi- cations Workers Union and An Post, it is expected the sorting and deliv- ery services at Sixmilebridge and Newmarket-on-Fergus will move to Shannon from early March. It is
understood a number of outstanding issues in relation to the move will be discussed at that meeting.
At present, letter and parcel post for Newmarket and Sixmilebridge is sorted on site at the respective post offices. Ten delivery staff are employed between the two offices and moving them to Shannon would see a doubling of staff at that sort- ing centre. It is also understood that some redevelopment of the facility at
Shannon will have to be undertaken. Three separate dates were set in 2006 for the relocation of services, however the move did not go ahead because the matter was in dispute. Following talks at the LRC on Tuesday, recommendations were is- sued to both sides for consideration. Staff from Newmarket-on-Fergus and Sixmilebridge met with their union representatives in Ennis last Thursday night to discuss the LRC
document. Although the details of the arrangement have not been made public by either side, staff at the meeting were advised by the CWU to accept the LRC recommendation.
Commenting on the LRC talks, a spokesman for An Post would only say, “We went to the LRC last Tues- day for conciliation talks and after- wards recommendations were 1s- sued. Both sides are now considering those recommendations.”