Industrial action by post office workers puts a ban on overtime.
Sorters and postmen at the Central Sorting Office in Sheriff Street refuse to work overtime and work-to-rule. The dispute is over a wage claim with ongoing negotiations taking place between the Department of Posts and Telegraphs and the Post Office Workers Union.
The sorters are seeking a £3 a week increase in addition to a 15 per cent cost of living bonus. Postmen want an additional £6 a week. Around 350 postal sorters are involved in the no-overtime ban at the Central Sorting Office in Dublin.
The Department of Posts and Telegraphs will not reveal the full impact of the work to rule on processing post or how much mail is backed up in the sorting office. RTÉ News has been refused access to the sorting office to take photographs.
The department says that yesterday's backlog of mail was cleared today and they expect today's backlog to be cleared tomorrow.
The Department of Posts and Telegraphs says that most mail is going out on time and that there should not be delays of more than 24 hours.
A spokesman for the postal sorters estimates that around 3,000 bags of mail remain in the sorting office at the moment. Each bag contains several thousand letters. They say there is probably a delay of around two days. They also claim that mail from government departments is lying unattended and that there is a growing accumulation of incoming mail from overseas.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 5 September 1968. The reporter is Pat Sweeney.
