Three-month Post Office strike ends - South Africa

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Post Office reaches ‘amicable resolution’ on issue of striking contract workers who demanded full-time employment

A THREE-MONTH strike by scores of South African Post Office contract workers who demanded full-time employment has ended, the parastatal said on Wednesday.

The strike had severely affected postal services, especially the delivery of mail.

Janras Kotsi, group executive of mail business, said he was pleased at the "amicable resolution" reached on Tuesday night.

The Post Office had accepted an interim solution regarding the demands made by striking workers, he said in a statement.

Details of the resolution have not yet been revealed.

Mr Kotsi said the strike had resulted in mail carry-overs in some areas in Gauteng, and that these would be cleared within a few days.

"(Customer) satisfaction is a key strategic imperative for the group. Similarly, the board and the executive team have worked single-mindedly to ensure the restoration of the services to our customers," he said.

He added: "I want to express our sincerest apology for the loss of service and the resultant inconvenience to our many customers."

A Post Office van was pelted with stones in Braamfontein by striking workers on May 16, and a Post Office building was reportedly set alight in Soweto.

The Communication Workers’ Union had demanded that the Post Office employ on a permanent basis workers sourced from labour brokers. Many of them had apparently worked at the Post Office for years without due recognition and benefits.

The Post Office has appointed an acting CEO and a chief financial officer following last month’s resignations of several top executives, including acting CEO Nick Buick. The appointments will bring interim relief to the embattled institution, which has recently been operating without key executives.

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No end in sight for Post Office strike as CWU leads march


The Communication Workers Union has led a march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to hand over a memorandum to three government departments

JUST a week after what seemed to be the end of a four-month strike, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) led a march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria yesterday to hand over a memorandum to three government departments, calling for an end to labour brokering at the South African Post Office (Sapo).

Last week an "interim solution" to the strike at Sapo was reached, which included the phasing out of labour brokers over three months.

However, the union, an affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) — said workers do not want endless promises, and called for the termination of labour broker contracts "with immediate effect", and the re-instatement of retrenched workers.

Sapo is proving to be a major battleground in Cosatu’s opposition to labour-broking after the failure to have the practice banned.

CWU Gauteng head Aubrey Tshabalala said that marches and action would not end until the issues surrounding labour brokers were "dealt with significantly" and demands met. The memorandum was handed over to representatives from the Departments of Public Works and Communication, and the National Treasury.

Sapo’s group executive of mail business, Janras Kotsi, said three-months’ notice had been given to end labour-broker contracts, following which employees would be directly employed. Sapo was committed to the interim solution while it worked on a long-term plan, he said.

This interim solution in the phasing out of labour brokers included a deal where "casual workers" would be retained, but would be paid the full amount of their wages directly, instead of their wages being handled by labour brokers, Mr Kotsi said.

Sapo was working on a long-term solution to the problem, and expected this to be completed in three to nine months, he said.

Cosatu’s Gauteng chairman, Phutas Tseki, said the march yesterday was not only about labour brokers. He said Cosatu would call for the implementation of the Freedom Charter at the ANC’s policy conference later this year.

He demanded, among other measures, "transformation", "nationalisation", and an end to labour-broking in "all departments" in SA.

Mr Tseki said action would be intensified until demands were met, and if mail deliveries were interrupted, residents and businesses "would feel the pinch".

Mr Tshabalala said: "All workers in Sapo should be converted to permanent positions with immediate effect, with all benefits including housing allowance, pension scheme and medical aid scheme."