Fin24 reports that according to unions, SA Post Office (SAPO) workers have been informed that the struggling entity will start with large-scale retrenchments.

Earlier this year, Treasury projected that the number of SAPO employees would shrink from 16,275 in 2021/22 to a projected 10,254 in 2024/25, which would mean that 40% of positions might be cut. SAPO faces severe financial challenges, and has been struggling to pay staff medical aid contributions and its debts. It suffered a R2.3 billion loss in 2020/2021, with its revenue rapidly declining. According to Communication Workers Union (CWU) general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala, SAPO said it would start consulting unions on section 189 retrenchments this week. "In the previous week, the same management approached us with a proposal of cutting salaries by 50% and reducing working days to four days a week. CWU rejects this move by management noting that SAPO failed to process voluntarily severance package[s] because it had no money to pay," said Tshabalala. An internal CWU notice indicated that the union's leaders met to assess its readiness of a "fight back campaign" and study the response of the ballot voting for a possible strike. Cosatu, the umbrella federation of the CWU, called on the government to intervene in the plans to cut 6,000 jobs.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24

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