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BL Premium reports that unions have called on the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for the beleaguered SA Post Office (Sapo) to consider other avenues instead of retrenching thousands of employees.
They say layoffs are not the “right approach”. A majority of creditors voted on Thursday in favour of the business rescue plan, which includes reducing the branch network and retrenching about 6,000 employees. The BRPs, Anoosh Rooplal and Juanito Damons, said the plan would be adopted in two phases over a two- to five-year period. “Phase 1 will involve stabilising the business, reducing the branch network to some 600 branches and rightsizing the headcount to some 5,000 employees,” the BRPs indicated in a statement. Phase 2 of the turnaround plan will implement elements of the ‘Post Office of Tomorrow’ strategy. The Communication Workers Union (CWU), one of the major unions among Sapo’s workforce of roughly 11,000 to 12,000, previously argued that the retrenchments could affect service delivery to rural and poor communities. SA Postal Workers Union general secretary David Mangena commented: “We can’t be happy when 6,000 people are about to lose employment. We will put a strong case for our members for the BRP process to consider other avenues instead of retrenchments.” Democratic Postal and Communications Union general secretary Levy Zwane said: “Our view has always been to say the Post Office is not experiencing a problem of staff, it is its business model that is the problem. We have told the BRPs that we don’t think this (layoffs) is the right approach,” he stated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page