Acting CEO of the South African Post Office, Buzwe Yafele, said the parties concerned agreed that the workers’ contracts be extended for three months in the interim, while pursuing a permanent solution.
“Mail that had already been on the service pipeline is now delayed by 48 hours, but the speedy resolution of the strike more than compensates for this service backlog. We have put additional measures to close the gap on the backlog by Tuesday next week,” said Yafele.
South African Post Office retail outlets in Gauteng and other parts of the country were not affected by the industrial action, and the processing of mail in other mail centres of the post office continued normally.
Yafele expressed gratitude to the representatives of the casual employees, labour unions and post office management for the manner in which the negotiations were conducted.
He further thanked customers for their patience during the work stoppage.
UPDATE: 4 September at 4.pm
The strike by casual workers at mailing centres in post offices in Gauteng could result in mail delivery delays of up to 24 hours.
This comes after casual workers went on strike on 2 September, demanding to be appointed to permanent positions.
Spokesperson Johan Kruger said management and workers’ representatives were in talks and the industrial action was expected to end soon.
“SA Post Office has put in place contingency measures to reduce the impact of the industrial action on the delivery of mail and other items.”
