Unions have called on the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for the beleaguered SA Post Office to consider other avenues instead of retrenching thousands of employees, saying 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 will 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,” Rooplal and Damons said in a statement.
The Post Office is among a litany of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that have floundered, losing R19bn over the years due to operating outdated business models and failing to adopt digital developments.
The Post Office, which last made a profit in 2004, said it needs a government bailout of R3.8bn to pay for retrenchment costs; pay the creditors’ dividend; and use investment capital to repair and modernise assets.
While unions have welcomed the turnaround plan, they are against the retrenchment of workers as that would add to the already high unemployment rate in SA. The official unemployment rate stood at 32% in the third quarter.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU), one of the major unions among the Post Office’s workforce of roughly 11,000 to 12,000, has said the section 189 notice — dealing with retrenchments — which the Post Office issued to employees in February — could affect service delivery to rural and poor communities.
The BRPs, however, said the focus would be on “improving service delivery levels, which will include increasing its fleet to deliver letter and parcels timeously. New digital products will be considered and launched to increase revenue streams, while automating more of the daily tasks.”
Damons said: “Customer centricity and supplying the correct tools of the trade to the staff will be a key and ongoing initiative to provide excellent service, win back market share and gain traction with new products.”
Phase 2 of the turnaround plan would implement elements of the “Post Office of Tomorrow strategy and ultimately achieve the outcomes defined in the SA Post Office Amendment Bill. The Post Office will be repurposed to provide diversified and expanded services through hybrid mail extensions, new motor licence disc solutions, increased property rental revenues or sales of owned property and the creation of a digital hub for inclusive communications”.
Strategic public-private partnerships will be sought and negotiated in e-commerce and logistics, “which will assist to future-proof the organisation”.
Rooplal said: “We thank those creditors who voted in favour of the plan. We believe that with our continued involvement, hard work and detailed strategy, we can restructure the Post Office into a future-proofed business that can provide ‘communications inclusion’ for all South Africans.”
SA Postal Workers Union general secretary David Mangena told Business Day: “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.”
Some of the employees who risk losing their jobs include postmen/postwomen; drivers; and retail staff.
Democratic Postal and Communications Union general secretary Levy Zwane said: “Inasmuch as we welcome the approval of the plan by creditors, we don’t approve of the reduction of staff by almost 6,000 employees. 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 is the right approach.”
CWU general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala could not immediately be reached for comment.
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