Mail disruptions stamped out
The SA Post Office warned that striking employees not showing up for work on Monday would be fired but operations at the Tshwane mail sorting centre is back to normal.
Most residents in the east had full mailboxes since last week as Tshwane Mail, one of the biggest sorting centres in the country, became fully operational again even though a minor portion of workers were still striking.
Santa Claus will also have less headaches to get gifts and cards to deserving recipients as SA Post Office (Sapo) spokesman Johan Kruger on Monday said there would be no disruptions in postal services over the festive period.
However, the mail sorting centre at OR Tambo International Airport, where all overseas mail gets processed, was not fully operational yet and delays in mail from overseas could therefore still be experienced.
The post office’s courier service has been operating for the past months and will continue over the Christmas period, Kruger told Rekord.
Tshwane Mail, one of the sorting centres hit hardest by the four-month long strike by workers which paralysed postal services in the capital, was currently 100% staffed and operational, Sapo announced last week.
The giant parastatal on Thursday reached an agreement with two of the three unions representing employees, while the Communications Workers’ Union was holding out for a 7,5% increase, backdated to April 2014 – a demand Sapo said it just did not have the financial capacity to meet.
“As of Thursday, 673 employees representing only 4% of the employees who belong to the bargaining unit had not reported for duty,” Simo Lushaba, appointed as leader of an intervention team to bring the crippling strike to a halt, said.
He urged all employees to return to work by Monday.
“Failure to heed this call will result in the implementation of human resources dismissal procedures with effect from Monday 24 November,” he said.
The impact of the strike on Sapo’s operations was significantly reduced and mail was flowing again as employees were returning to work in large numbers, he said.
Lushaba has been tasked by Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele to lead the intervention aimed at obtaining a sustainable solution for labour relations problems at the postal giant, which is experiencing serious financial difficulties.
Lushaba said the Polokwane and Welkom mail sorting centres had also resumed work while the Germiston and the Johannesburg International sorting centres (at OR Tambo International Airport) were not as yet back to full capacity even though mail had begun to flow from these centres.
“We are witnessing increasing numbers of employees returning to work each day and would like to thank the minister and all affected stakeholders for their role in this encouraging development,” he said.
“The on-going seasonal labour unrest of Sapo is really an unacceptable development as the post office serves a critical role in economic development.” Lushaba expressed regret at the impact the strike had on customers and said Sapo was intent on remodelling its operations to meet the standards of a 21st century company.
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