KZN Post Office workers down tools
Workers maintain that the full-blown strike will affect the entire province.
In Durban South African Post Officers barred customers from entering the Post Office. PHOTO Rudy Nkgadima.
While wage negotiations between the South African Post Office (Sapo) and unions remain deadlocked, a small group of workers affiliated to the Communications Workers Union (CWU) in Durban barred customers from entering the Durban Central Post Office on Friday, Berea Mail reports.
On Monday, the unions and representatives from Sapo met to resolve the wage dispute in talks that were facilitated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
READ MORE: Striking workers still bedevil Sapo’s grant payments
According to CWU provincial secretary Thami Mzileni, the 3% salary increase that Telkom is offering is “a slap in the face”, while the Post Office has not made any offer at all.
“The entire province will go on a full-blown strike. We wish to warn and advise both small and big businesses that they’re going to be negatively affected as a majority of our technicians are members of the Communications Workers Union. We are saying this to advise and make you aware as a majority of businesses use Telkom, both fixed lines and data services,” he said.
Meanwhile, the union has also come out with allegations that the Post Office is not ready to handle the Social Security Agency (Sassa) account, adding that government should rather invest in upgrading infrastructure and networks in the Post office. The union said social grant recipients would not be able to receive their grants because there were some Post Office brances in the province that had been shut down.
“In KwaMashu, the Post Office depot is closed – now all workers in KwaMashu have been moved to Durban North, which means there’s a dis-service in KwaMashu. People of KwaMashu cannot access the Post Office because it has been closed,” said Mzileni.
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