The Communications Workers Union (CWU), representing employees at An Post and Eir, has arranged long-term pay agreements with both companies, totalling 8% and 11% respectively. These agreements were announced by the CWU ahead of their biennial conference in Galway, discussions having started prior to last Christmas.
The contract with An Post, in effect until the close of the following year, stipulates a 4% rise retroactive to the 1st of January, an additional 3% from the outset of January 2025, and a further 1% come 1st of June next year. In terms of the Eir deal, which was finalised after consultations with the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) over a period of 33 months to March 2027 end, it promises cumulative increases of 11% for individuals earning up to €50,000 and 10% for those earning up to €70,000. The first year will see rate hikes of 6.5% and 5.5% respectively for the two groups. These increases are be to delivered in six separate parts.
Union members will be voting on these agreements in the next few weeks. Seán McDonagh, the CWU general secretary, expressing his views on the An Post deal, stated his belief that the agreed increases were an acknowledgement of “the significant role workers played in the company’s metamorphosis”.
Referencing the Eir agreement, he said it included measures to tackle work-life balance problems, promotion to managerial positions and enhanced pay packages for apprentices. He characterised both deals as the “end-result of exhaustive and extending negotiations conducted against the backdrop of heightened inflation, soaring interest rates, and amplified pressures on ordinary workers’ household budgets endeavouring to sustain themselves and their households. We had ground to bridge which I believe we have secured in these proposed agreements to our members.”
The CWU conference, which roughly 500 delegates are expected to attend, will debate various issues pertaining to the communications industry, including Wednesday’s motion aiming to safeguard postmen who decline to distribute letters from Israel against disciplinary actions, the preservation of five-day deliveries, and the retirement age at Eir.