Cape Town - Declining revenues, the 2008 recession, a protracted strike nine years ago, and the social relief of distress (SRD) grants have been cited as among the reasons the South African Post Office (Sapo) wants to let go of 6 000 employees – some of them with decades of experience.
Sapo handed a notice letter to the Communications Worker Union (CWU) last week stating that it would press ahead with the large-scale retrenchments, citing a decline in its financial position.
The notice comes a week after the company called a meeting with the union to discuss 40% salary cuts or reduced hours of work with all key stakeholders present, the union said.
Concerns have also been expressed about the closure of three more Post Offices in Mitchells Plain.
Residents were now being referred to the closest branch located some 20km away.
“Our future is unknown. I have worked for the Post Office for 27 years.
Where to go from here and how will I take care of the daily things my family needs? We have been devoted to the Post Office for years. We used to come to work joyfully ... Now our faces tell you a different story, of adults who are afraid of the future,” a devastated Sapo employee told the Cape Times on Tuesday.
“I feel bad for Sassa people, my heart breaks because there is not a Post Office close to them. Mitchells Plain has no Post Office, now where should old people go, and where should people with disabilities go?
“We believe these decisions were made over the years and clearly someone failed to fight for us,“ the employee said.
The CWU has rejected the decision, saying it would have a devastating impact not only on workers, but also on thousands of residents who relied on Post Office services.
CWU provincial secretary Wayne Bredenkamp accused Sapo of “failing” to mitigate job losses as a form of loyalty to or appreciation for workers.
“Sapo’s strategic turnaround plan (STP) wants to reduce employees to 9 000 by letting 6 000 go currently after voluntary severance packages (VSPs), natural attrition, etc. Their current staff complement is 12 700, which means if you let go of 6 000 people you overshoot your STP target and that is also another reason why CWU rejects this 6 000 number as well as retrenchments in its entirety as it is not well thought through,” he said.
The first letter to the unions to introduce the Section 189 process was in November 2022, according to Sapo’s CEO Nomkhita Mona.
“Prior to that, there have been a number of engagements with all unions recognised at Sapo, considering and exploring the various options to reduce the high cost of employment. These engagements still continue. The Post Office has been successful in cutting other costs, reducing expenses to 25% below budget. However, the salary cost makes up 68% of total expenditure and needs to be addressed urgently,” she said.
Mona said Sapo last posted a profit in 2004, and the decline in its financial position began as far back as 17 years ago.
She said that the recession in 2008 and the adoption of smartphones accelerated the decline.
“A protracted strike in 2014 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Bulk business customers had to find alternative service providers, and this allowed new entrants to come in.
The Post Office ended the strike by terminating the agreement with labour brokers and absorbing 8 250 part-time workers into Sapo, despite the fact that there were no full-time jobs for them. The result was a bloated structure and increasing costs,” she said.
“The long queues as a result of grants (especially the SRD grants) were detrimental to other services of Sapo. Customers avoided the queues by choosing different service providers for some of the revenue lines such as motor vehicle licences and financial services. The Covid-19 pandemic put the last nail on the coffin.
“The Post Office was not allowed to provide any postal service during the first lockdown stage, forcing customers to make a sudden, unforeseen move to digital communication.”
EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said the company’s inability to keep up with the technological advances in communications was at the centre of its failure to generate revenue.
“Retrenchments, therefore, are not a solution to stabilising the finances of the entity and ultimately it will collapse due to the misguided view that the retrenchment of workers is a strategy to resolve financial woes ... It is instances like these that give rise to the genuine call by the EFF for a national shutdown.
“It is not only the lives of 6 000 people whose jobs will be lost that will be affected, but all of the lives of their dependants,” Tambo said.
Cape Times