Charity concern grows over possible postal dispute

Irish charities planning to conduct major mail appeals running up to Christmas are becoming increasingly concerned about a possible postal strike by the unions representing the An Post workforce. At least five charities in Ireland are planning to meet the 21st November postaim deadline which gives big discounts for bulk mailings.

In recent days the rhetoric by the Communications Workers Union has grown more militant, with the likelihood that there will be major disruption over the next month. The fear is that even if the strike does not extend to late November there will be a knock-on effect on deliveries that might mean Christmas mailings will arrive too close to maximize responses. The usual pattern is for up to 75% of replies to arrive in the first 2-3 weeks of a mailing.

A spokesman at An Post said that it was more than likely there would be a strike but it was impossible to assess how long it would be and how disruptive it would be to deliveries. He accepted that this made it very difficult for charities to make decisions about whether to go ahead with their mailings.

The Irish Charities Postal Users' Forum has come out against the threatened postal dispute between the Communications Workers Union and An Post. The Forum is made up of charities that are large users of the postal system.

A spokesman for a major social welfare charity stressed that the pre-Christmas period is vitally important for fundraising and they had planned a 200,000 mailing. November and December are critical months for us, he said. Any disruption in the postal system would have a devastating impact on our annual fundraising campaigns that have been planned for six months. We have already spent considerable money on stationary, printing and mailing lists but it could be wasted if a strike goes ahead. Even with a threat of strike action donors become fearful of putting donations in the post and many donors do not have access to electronic transfers, he said.