Good News and a little Christmas Cheer for Posters!

South African Post Office (SAPO) has announced they are pleased with the end of what appeared to be an everlasting strike that impeded Post Office operations around the country, leading to unhappy customers across the globe who couldn’t send or receive items from SA (and resulted in an increased use of private courier services for the more desperate)!

In a statement yesterday SAPO said it is “pleased with the end of the long strike” following the announcement by the Communication Workers Union (CWU).”

The end comes after intense negotiations with the three labour unions who form part of the Post Office bargaining unit: SA Postal and Allied Workers Union (Sapawu), CWU and the Democratic Postal and Communications Union (Depacu).

In a message on Facebook, SAPO said that only 0.7 percent of their workforce remains absent from work. As a result, operations in all provinces are now at almost 100 percent capacity.

“We would like to extend our sincerest apologies once again to everyone who was inconvenienced by the strike. Plans to work off the backlog have been implemented,” they said.

South Africans overseas – or those with family and friends abroad – will be pleased to know that one plan of action that’s been implemented is the addition of a night shift for the International Mail Centre.

As of Monday, the Johannesburg International Mail Centre has recorded 100% employee attendance, which is also great news!

“We have also hired extra people to speed up the assessment of incoming parcels for customs duty – this has been a bad bottleneck. Other mail centres are helping to process international mail items and the backlog is much better,” said SAPO.

Fifteen post offices in the Johannesburg area are still closed for repairs after striking workers caused shocking and severe damage.

SAPO said operations in Gauteng, Polokwane and Witbank have improved with Tshwane Mail and Witspos fully functional –  which is important because they are the main sorting centres in Gauteng.

Procedures to dismiss striking workers began yesterday on employees who did not return to work on 24 November.

Dr Simo Lushaba, leader of the Intervention Team, said: “The end of the SA Post Office strike is a pleasing outcome and should be applauded, given the negative impact the strike has had on the country.”

He decried the constant unprotected strikes that negatively impact the SA Post Office, its customers and employees.

“While we are encouraged by the end of the strike, it should also be put across to all affected parties that under our watch, and going forward, the SA Post Office will no longer tolerate any interruptions to its operations due to strikes which do not fall within the ambit of the applicable labour dispensation of this country,” he said.

Dr Lushaba said that the “historical laxity” has proven to be immensely costly to the overall wellbeing of the SA Post Office; resulting in “immeasurable erosion of our value proposition to our customers, our credibility and the economy in general”.

He said that SAPO is on course to stabilising the operations around the country and returning them to full capacity; adding that a sustainable SA Post Office can only be possible in a harmonious and collaborative labour relations environment.  “We reiterate our heartfelt gratitude to all the role players involved in this process and encourage this commitment which can only assist in the turning around of the SA Post Office.”

SAPO estimate that it will take 17 days to process and deliver the mail backlog emanating from the three months strike (so that’s just in time for Christmas!).