Top Issue 1-2024

2 March 2011

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Irish postal workers meet Sinn Féin MEP in Brussels over privatisation threat

CWU leaders Cormac Ó Dálaigh and Martina O'Connell in Brussels with Bairbre de Brún MEP

SINN FÉIN MEP Bairbre de Brún has met Communications Workers' Union Vice-President Cormac Ó Dálaigh and CWU colleague Martina O’Connell in Brussels to discuss the worrying prospect of the privatisation/liberalisation of the postal market.

Bairbre de Brún said:

Experiences across Europe have continually shown that the liberalisation of the postal service has resulted in a poorer quality of service, inadequate wages and a worsening of conditions for workers.

A privatised postal service will attract companies that want to cherry-pick the most profitable parts of the service while others will be left to languish. We will no longer be able to rely on sending letters or parcels to harder-to-reach areas.

The era of the postman or woman knowing the local community and keeping and eye on and in touch with the elderly and vulnerable will be at an end.

We may even see moves to have deliveries cut from five days a week to only three.

The Sinn Féin MEP declared her full support for fellow MEPs in a written declaration that the Commission fully investigates the effects of privatisation of the postal service with regards to service quality and labour conditions.

I was happy to put this on record with the Communications Workers’ Union delegation that I met today.

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