GSP 01-26 PEAK/Christmas Arrangements 2025 – Review
13/January/2026
Description
An Post senior management and CWU conducted a review of the 2025 PEAK/Christmas operational arrangements. The agreed arrangements, comprising local engagement, were outlined in a GS Circular issued to members on the 3rd November 2025.
It is certainly the case, the volume predicted and planned for by the company was very accurate. Were it not for the agreed “package”, and the co-operation and support of staff, the mails operation would have keeled over, resulting in serious service failures. In summary, the agreed arrangements were an operational success. No outstanding or unresolved issues were referred to Head Office / CWU Regional Officers.
Post Christmas is a somewhat different story, as much heavier volumes are in circulation than envisaged or planned for. The company contend the following factors contributed to the current situation:
- Adverse weather in early January
- Holyhead Outage – 7th January 2026
- Late inbound international mail, specifically Royal Mail
- A 34% Parcel Volume increase for the same period last year (300k per week)
- Breaching of the cap on Shein volumes
- Annual Leave, Spike in Absence and reduced overtime take up
While the above is not disputed by the union, apart for the Holyhead outage, all of the other factors should have been anticipated and resourced accordingly. Consequently, delivery staff are dealing with volumes considerably more than the new norm and as provided for in the DSU designs.
In such a situation, it is managements responsibility to ensure the necessary resources are in place to enable staff to complete deliveries. The Cessation of Late Finish agreement is only one component of resourcing, which is more for incidental fluctuations in mail volumes on individual routes. In those circumstances, members are obliged to comply with this agreement as to do otherwise are open to the charge of industrial action or possible disciplinary proceedings.
However, the current situation is not a simple fluctuation and requires more targeted resourcing by management to the areas/routes in difficulty. These can extend to local agreement on day/weekend attendances, overtime working and recruitment of casuals, together with the enhanced late finish.
The company has committed to sharing all information and working with the union to ensure full maintenance of service quality and to alleviating the current difficulties for delivery staff. For its part, the union remains committed to finding workable solutions.
To this end, the company has responded positively to the unions representations and has agreed to the following nationwide measures.
- Saturday 17th January – 4 hours nationwide delivery
- Saturday 24th January – 4 hours nationwide delivery
- Targeted resourcing where required, with local engagement
Ultimately our objective must be to ensure the necessary resources are in place to maintain all services. In the event this is not possible, it is inevitable the company will seek to prioritise work. However, this does not extend to abandonment of its USO obligations or preferential treatment for any one customer. We are aware the regulator, Comreg, has raised concerns regarding such practices in the past.
In respect of working of overtime, contractually and in accordance with the various agreements, members may be required to perform reasonable levels of overtime within the limits and confines of the OWT Act. However, this does not mean it is the sole responsibility of the delivery person to complete deliveries.
Branches should engage with local management and avail of assistance of the CWU Regional Officers, holding management to account and responsibility. Where the company fail to honour its obligations, there is no obligation on staff to carry the can.
More long-term the company strategic plan is to centralise processing to a single site and reduce the number of letter deliveries each week, neither of which in the unions view, will address the capacity shortfall and future growth in final mile.
In the context of a new pay agreement, the union contends the company must recognise and compensate staff in final mile, for going the extra mile.
While we can discuss and decide our strategic approach at the upcoming AGMs and Biennial Conference, we must first focus on addressing the immediate issue, rather than risk accelerating implementation by stealth the company changes.