Union vows to fight over Post Office jobs

Up to 6 000 South African Post Office workers – more than half the current workforce – stand to lose their jobs by the end of March.

But the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are fighting to reduce the proposed number of retrenchments.

The number of retrenchments at the institution are laid out in the business rescue plan published by business rescue practitioners Anoosh Rooplan and Juanito Damons on 23 November.

The Post Office entered into business rescue on 10 July after being placed under provisional liquidation following litigation by creditors, including landlords.

According to the business rescue plan (BRP), the Post Office has debts of R4.5 billion. Of this, R3.9 billion is owed to Postbank, with about R400 million owed in rental arrears.

The operating losses, states the BRP, are “due to declines in revenue and an unsustainable cost base”, with the amount of money earned being less than half the money spent on operating costs. The biggest cost is salaries, with the Post Office paying its employees R1.50 for every rand it earns.

As of July, at the start of the business rescue, there were 894 operational Post Office branches, but only 113 of them were profitable. This was after 384 branches had closed since the 2022 financial year. But of these closures, only 47 were planned. The remaining 337, some of which were profitable, closed due to nonpayment of rent and utilities.

While the business rescue practitioners plan to negotiate with landlords to “reopen certain branches”, the branch closures have resulted in about 815 more employees than needed.

The largest staff contingent facing retrenchment are the retail staff, of which up to 3 000 stand to lose their jobs, along with about 275 drivers, about 200 employees who have been at home due to ill-health for an extended period, along with three of 19 group executive and general manager positions.

While there are 1 023 branches nationwide, of which 894 are operational, the plan looks to reduce that by half, to 600 branches.

Although 6 000 jobs are to be cut from a staff complement of 11 038, the business rescue practitioners state their plan saves the remaining 5 038 posts, which would all have been lost if the Post Office were to be liquidated.

But the BRP’s success depends on a remaining R2.4 billion appropriation and an additional R3.8 billion equity funding coming from the National Treasury. Should all proceed as planned, the retrenchment process was expected to be completed by 31 March.

“Clearly the business rescue plan is not worker-friendly, it is creditors seeing what they can get out of the process,” said CWU collective bargaining coordinator Nathen Bowers, adding that more than 70% of the creditors voted for large-scale retrenchments prior to the business rescue plan being developed.

Bowers said the first sitting of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for the appointment of a facilitator for the retrenchment process, is on 26 January.

Bowers said while workers were “always going to be the casualties” of the business rescue plan, 6 000 job losses was “slaughter”.