Socialist Party member and Solidarity TD Mick Barry said this morning that it makes no sense to close the Cork Mail Centre with the loss of 216 jobs at a time when the demand for parcel post is going through the roof.
Parcels volumes have grown by 60% since 2017 while the demand for letter delivery services is declining year on year by 7%.
Deputy Barry said this morning that the rise of parcel post offers the company the opportunity to diversify and to grow the business without resort to redundancies.
He said: “The plan to shut the Cork Mail Centre should be put to one side. Instead negotiations should be started between the company and the workers’ trade union representatives to hammer out a national plan which allows the company to transform itself from a letter delivery company which handles parcels to a parcel delivery company which handles letters without resort to redundancies.”
Deputy Barry said he was concerned that An Post are planning to flog off an important asset in the form of its Little Island Mail Centre premises as part of a short term fix.
He said: “An Post made a very poor decision by getting out of the parcel delivery business back in the noughties when it shut down SDS. That kind of shortsighted approach should not be replicated here.”
The Cork North Central TD said that the Mail Centre is a major employer in the Cork area and that many households rely on it for paying the bills.
He said: “In fact, there are some households which have more than one person working in the Mail Centre. I’m told that there was a lot of upset and anger at the meeting last night, this is coming as a real blow to many, many workers who have given long years of service.”
Deputy Barry concluded by saying that he will raise the issue vigorously on the floor of the Dail today.
