Three months with no pay for Post Office delivery agents
THIRTEEN agents contracted to the South African Post Office (SAPO) say they will not return to work until their employment issues are resolved.
The agents, who deliver mail door-to-door in and around Richards Bay, said they have been working at the Alton depot for more than 10 years on three month contracts.
And despite having worked during the past three months, the workers said they have not been paid.
‘We were previously contracted by an independent agency. When it closed down we were told we would be employed by the Post Office.
‘Initially we signed a three month contract and were promised that we would be permanently employed after the three months was over,’ said one worker who has been there for 12 years.
‘When we queried our employment status, we were told we were independent contractors, yet our payment letters are from the Post Office. No one wants to tell us who our employer is,’ another agent, who did not want to be named, said.
He said he has been working at the depot for 18 years and relies on this income to sustain his family.
‘We are currently paid 12 cents for each letter delivered. It has been difficult to work for that kind of pay, but we do it because our families depend on the income. I support a family of 13 and I have to pay rent where I live in Mzingazi.’
The agents said they are among 47 others in the province with similar issues.
They had previously approached the Department of Labour and the Post Office, but their employment conditions are yet to be resolved.
This comes as an agency in the far north of KZN said it had also not received payment from the Post Office for six months and was on the brink of closing its doors.
The closure of the agency is likely to affect the delivery of mail to remote areas.
SAPO said the contractors are not employees.
‘Their payment was delayed by liquidity problems in the Post Office, which has a priority list for payments.
‘Contractors will be paid immediately when our cash liquidity allows. Our management in KZN will engage the contractors on this,’ SAPO Communications Officer Nobuhle Njapha said.