South Africa - PO workers strike over ‘race-based’ salaries

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Post Office workers strike over ‘race-based’ salaries

THOUSANDS of workers at the South African Post Office downed tools yesterday in protest against “apartheid wages”, hampering the Post Office’s business units to varying degrees.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has accused the post office of paying its staff based on racial preferences, with blacks getting the short end of the stick.

“We want the Post Office to restructure the salaries of employees. It is still based on whether you are black, Indian or coloured, irrespective of whether you are doing the same job,” CWU general secretary Gallant Roberts said yesterday.

“It is now more than 10 years that we as workers in SA have been enjoying the least of the rewards of our hard-fought-for democracy, a matter that CWU is not prepared to tolerate any longer,” he said.

However, Post Office chief operating officer John Wentzel disputed the CWU’s claims, saying: “We pay people for the job they do and not for the colour of their skin.”

He said among the lowest paid workers, 20% of employees were white, while among the better paid, 60% were black.

The CWU and the Post Office have been in talks since 2002 on salary structures and a number of agreements have been reached already. The matter is now at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and talks are continuing.

Roberts said the first phase of the mass action would include a national stayaway until Tuesday and union members would also picket outside key Post Office offices.

On Wednesday, CWU members would march to their provincial offices to hand over memoranda of grievances and on Thursday meetings would be held to assess developments and decide on future strategies.

Roberts said about 9000 of the union’s 14000 members downed tools at post offices, mail depots and mail vendors. He expected more members to join the strike today.

“Our members are determined as hell, nothing will stop them from this industrial action, not even weather conditions like snow or rain,” he said.

Wentzel said 182 of the 2400 post offices across the country had failed to open, while many others were working with reduced staff.

He said in the Post Office’s mail operation, 90% of employees had heeded the call to down tools, while 20% of staff had gone on strike. Postbank was largely unaffected.

“(A total of 54%) of employees heeded the call to strike. The effect was more significant in Gauteng … Limpopo and Mpumalanga.”