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Fin24 reports that the SA Post Office (SAPO) is considering strategies to reduce its "unsustainable" staff bill, which currently accounts for 68% of its expenditure.
These considerations included cutting staff salaries by reducing the work week of some staff members, and a voluntary severance package process which was already under way, Communications Manager Johan Kruger indicated. "These measures are aimed at cutting employment costs, while saving some jobs – effectively a job-sharing model; while at the same time delaying a process of forced retrenchments," he explained. This came after the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) Dianne Kohler Barnard said in a statement on Wednesday morning that staff salaries at SAPO could be slashed by as much as 40% through the scheme. She claimed that if the reduced work week policy were implemented, this would result in a two-day reduction to the work week for some staff members, meaning staff members who were working five days per week would be reduced to a three-day work week and those currently working six days per week would be reduced to four. Kohler Barnard the changes would amounts to "nothing more nor less than constructive dismissal" and that, if SAPO went ahead with the "criminal move" of reducing staff hours, the DA will report the matter to the Public Protector, the CCMA and the Department of Labour. Aubrey Tshabalala of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) noted that consultation was required to change the terms and conditions of postal workers' employment contracts. He also flagged that workers have not received a pay increase for a period of around four years and have seen other benefits, such as medical aid, cut. But, Kruger said that all current medical aid contributions were up to date, other than an amount historically owed to MediPos.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by William Brederode at Fin24
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