Company Announcement - The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union urges the management of SA Post Office to put an end to unfair labour practice. SAPO acquired 100% of The Courier and Freight Group, then XPS, a division of logistics group Rennies in 2001. Since then CFG support functions including human resources, IT, IR and finance have been absorbed into SAPO leaving the logistics division to operate as a separate unit.

However, as the financial situation at SAPO has deteriorated, it has affected operations at CFG. The post office has been under immense financial pressure following a lengthy strike in 2014. The entire board resigned in November 2014, causing the state-owned entity to be placed under administration. In addition, the post office struggled to pay salaries on time until government intervened and provided a guarantee last month.

However, the 600 or so CFG employees, 400 of whom are SATAWU members, were not paid on 25 November making it clear that they were not covered by the guarantee. Instead they were advised that due to financial constraints some would be paid on 30 November, others the next day and the last group the day after.

CFG employees perform the same functions and duties as post office employees and are subject to the same output measures. It therefore follows that they are entitled to the same remuneration and benefits as their counterparts at SAPO. Treating CFG and SAPO employees differently amounts to unfair labour practice.

Moreover, CFG salaries have not been paid on time since November 2014. Provident fund contributions have not been paid over since September 2015. There has been no communication from SAPO with regards to December salaries and bonuses. Employees falling under the scope of the bargaining council are due to receive their bonuses but contributions have not been paid over to the administrative body.

When news broke that Mark Barnes was appointed CEO of SAPO, workers were hopeful that their problems would finally be attended to. Of particularly encouragement were his utterances that he was willing to work with government, business and labour. However, workers’ hopes were short-lived as Barnes will only report for work in January. 

SATAWU calls for the full conversion of CFG employment contracts to post office contracts and for CFG to be included in the SAPO strategic turnaround plan immediately.