Post Office threatens to retrench 6,000 workers

3 years ago 1

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The South African Post Office (Sapo) has shifted its plan of action drastically, from planning to cut staff wages to announcing plans to retrench 6,000 workers.

The Communications Worker Union (CWU) has reached out to the National Treasury as it believes Sapo needs a financial injection from government to continue delivering its services and keep workers employed.

This comes just weeks after Sapo management proposed implementing a two-day weekly work reduction, effectively reducing weekly working hours — and staff wages — by 40%.

The CWU’s general-secretary, Aubrey Tshabala, told 702 that it was notified of the plan to cut 6,000 jobs via a letter it was given on Thursday, 9 February 2023.

“We are dealing here with indecisive management, whereby whilst we were still discussing the issue of salary cuts, it then decided to give us a letter on Thursday last week (9 February) to say that it’s going to retrench 6,000 workers,” Tshabala said.

“In fact, the letter came attached with the names of those 6,000 workers that are affected.”

When asked why he believes Sapo has announced plans to retrench the workers, Tshabala said CWU doesn’t understand the sudden change.

He said Sapo’s track record shows that the company doesn’t have a long-term plan.

“We are talking about the management here that failed to pay the medical aid for workers, where workers were exposed to life-threatening situations, and their medical aid was not working,” Tshabala said.

“We have a management here that has failed to pay pension funds for several years. We have a management here that has failed to pay SARS.”

“We cannot come to a conclusion as to why they decided to change all of a sudden and embark on the action of Section 189,” he added.

While the usual process would be to discuss the matter through the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA), Tshabala said CWU has also reached out to the Department of Communication and Digital Technologies, and National Treasury for support.

“We have approached the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies. We have also approached the National Treasury to come in and intervene,” he said.

“One of the key areas, in our view, is that Sapo needs a financial injection because the Post Office in most areas is unable to expand and deliver its services.”

When asked how much Sapo needs, Tshabala said that the amount exceeds R12 billion.

“All-in-all, if you look at what the Post Office owes in terms of debt and everything else to rescue it, you’re looking at over R12 billion,” he said.

Sapo spokesperson Johan Kruger told MyBroadband that it is consulting with its labour unions on the matter.

“No decision has been taken yet,” he said.

In mid-January 2023, the Democratic Alliance (DA) revealed the Post Office’s plans to slash staff salaries by as much as 40% from February 2023, despite it deducting staff medical aid and pension contributions without paying them to the respective providers.

All this while the company’s CEO and board members earn millions of rands annually, according to the DA’s Dianne Kohler Barnard.

However, the Post Office responded to Kohler Barnard’s claims, explaining that it had no other option.

“It is unsustainable for [the Post Office] to carry staff expenses accounting for 68% of its expenditure,” Sapo said.

“In fact, these decisions should have been taken a number of years ago, as the writing has always been on the wall. Staff cost reduction is unavoidable.”

The Post Office also responded to the DA’s claims about its outstanding medical aid contributions.

“All current medical aid contributions are up to date, as at today,” Sapo stated.

“The only outstanding amount is what is historically owed to Medipos over the years when no contributions were paid. Sapo is actively engaged in processes to deal with this historical aspect of Medipos debt.”