COSATU fearing the worst for remaining SA Post Office employees

JOHANNESBURG - The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is fearing the worst for the remaining South African Post Office (SAPO) employees, after it received no further bailout funds in the budget.

The union federation said the SA Post Office’s business rescue practitioners have also failed to turn the entity around.

ALSO READ: SAPO business rescue team slammed for failing to account to Parliament

Members of Parliament (MPs) this week also expressed their displeasure at the business rescue team’s failure to appear before Parliament to give an update on the rescue plan.

COSATU said it’s “deeply dismayed” that the R1.4 billion due to help rebuild the SA Post Office as per the business rescue court mandated agreement is missing from the budget and yet to be paid.

COSATU spokesperson Matthew Parks said this threatens the jobs of thousands of postal workers.

He said the situation looks bleak for the remaining workers after the entity retrenched over 4,000 employees and closed several branches as part of the business rescue process.

“Staff are still struggling to get paid. They’re still owed lots of money in salary and pension arrears.”

He said the rescue team has failed to turn the struggling entity around and believes National Treasury also doesn’t have confidence in the team to make the SA Post Office financially sustainable.