A long-running strike at the South African Post Office has finally come to an end thanks to a wage agreement between the post office and three trade unions.
The strike began on 3 July when members from the Communication Workers Union, the Democratic Postal Workers Union and the SA Postal Workers Union embarked on a strike to get an 8 per cent salary increase.
According to the post office, the final agreement stipulates that employees across the board will receive a salary increase of 6,5 per cent, backdated to 1 April this year. Furthermore, the contracted working hours for permanent part-time employees have been moved from 21,5 hours per week to 27,5 hours per week. Five hundred of these positions are earmarked to be phased in as permanent full-time employees in due course, following an appropriate process.
The strike affected thousands of social grant beneficiaries as well as the delivery of municipal bills. The City of Johannesburg’s MMC for Finance, Funzela Ngobeni, said, “We are aware this interruption in statement delivery has an impact on our resident’s ability to budget and pay their monthly rates and service charges. This has brought to light the fact that our residents need more than one medium of receiving their municipal account statements.”
Ngobeni added that in this new financial year, the City will look at promoting the current alternative channels for residents to receive their municipal bills.
Sandton resident Maurice Elkrief said that for more than six weeks he had been struggling to receive his mail. During his first attempt to get his mail, no one was able to give him an explanation as to why he had not received it. During the following attempt, the post office at Gallo Manor was completely closed and he was left wondering how he would receive his municipal bills.
Post Office CEO Mark Barnes thanked customers for their patience and understanding, and the trade unions for negotiating in good faith. He also thanked the Department of Telecommunication and Postal Services as well as the Council for Counselling, Mediation and Arbitration for their support and guidance.
According to the post office, the accumulated mail is expected to take roughly 20 work days to be processed.
Details: customer.services@postoffice.co.za
How were you affected by the Post Office strike? Share your thoughts on the Sandton Chronicle Facebook page
Related Articles:
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/205357/sa-post-office-releases-new-social-grant-card-still-service-delivery-issues/
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/191646/not-a-red-letter-day-for-post-office/
