Johannesburg - The SA Post Office has threatened to dismiss workers who don’t return to work immediately, reported City Press.
Simo Lushaba, who has been tasked with saving the ailing parastatal, said: “We urge all the remaining employees to return to work immediately so as to proceed with the task of rebuilding the SA Post Office.
"Failure to heed this call will result in the implementation of the human resources dismissal procedures with effect from Monday [November 24].”
The Post Office reached an agreement on a salary increase with two of the three recognised labour unions: the SA Postal Allied Workers Union and the Democratic Postal and Communications Union, which together represent 50% of the employees in the bargaining unit.
They agreed to a 6.5% wage increase, effective next month. The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents 39%, is holding out for a 7.5% increase backdated to April.
Lushaba said it is impossible to agree to CWU’s terms given the Post Office’s financial situation.
According to Lushaba, the Post Office has begun sorting and distributing mail again. Major mail sorting centres in Gauteng that were hardest hit by the strike – Witspos and Tshwane Mail – are now 100% staffed and operational, he said.
The Polokwane and Welkom mail sorting centres have resumed operations. But the Germiston and the Johannesburg International Mail centres are not working to full capacity.
Businesses have been hard hit. A group of magazine publishers are lodging a formal complaint with the Independent Communications Authority of SA against the Post Office for not meeting its licence obligations and are considering a class action. They are putting their distribution up for tender.