Members of the Communication Workers Union employed by the Post Office have embarked on a go-slow, effective Thursday, over grievances, with the union warning that a full-blown strike may be on the cards at the embattled state-owned company.
If workers down tools, it could cripple an organisation already struggling to recover from a protracted strike in 2014.
The Communication Workers Union says it has complied with labour legislation by serving notice of the planned go-slow.
Union president Clyde Mervin says the organisation will meet with members in all nine provinces in the next week to decide on whether or not to embark on a full-blown strike.
The go-slow follows a crippling three month strike last year that cost the Post Office millions in revenue.
The company’s books reflected a deficit of R682m in the new financial year, based on revenue of R6,9bn and expenses of R7,6bn. Additional funding of R64,9m was approved for 2015/2016 to implement a new delivery model.
Last month, parliament’s communications portfolio committee indicated that it was satisfied with the turnaround strategy presented by administrator Simo Lushaba.
Lushaba was brought in by the department of telecommunications and postal services.
On Monday, the SABC quoted Lushaba as saying the current state of affairs at the Post Office was “extremely bad” and it could not afford another strike.
The Communication Workers Union had not signed the 6,5% wage agreement agreed to by two other unions recognised by the Post Office.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance has called for an audit of the Communications Workers Union’s membership at the Post Office “for the purposes of accurately establishing the full extent of union affiliation”.
“This will help provide clarity on the impact on service delivery in the run-up to yet another go-slow at the Post Office and what contingency plans must be put in place to ensure the Post Office runs as efficiently as possible,” says DA MP Cameron MacKenzie.
MacKenzie says the last strike was characterised by “extreme violence, intimidation of non-striking workers, damage to Post Office premises and vehicles, as well as the destruction of mail and packages”.
He says the proposed protest action will negatively impact on the company’s turnaround plan and its prospects for a sustainable future.
“If the strike is to go ahead as threatened, the backlog of mail that still exists, specifically on Gauteng’s East Rand, will further exacerbate this situation. The Post Office, facing a loss of R1,3bn this year due to declining mail volumes and shrinking revenue, can ill afford more strike action and will ultimately lose more customers,” MacKenzie says. — TechCentral, with Sapa