CWU PRESS STATEMENT ON THE CURRENT POST OFFICE SHENANIGANS
21 November 2014
The Government's intervention in SAPO, through the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services was welcomed by CWU with a great sense of relief. The resignation of Board Members and suspension of two Executive managers was indeed a breath of fresh air for the South African public and a direct victory of CWU against the scourge of mismanagement, corruption and the collapse of corporate governance at this state owned enterprise.
However, as CWU we were taken aback by the insensitive onslaught on workers by the very course of this intervention. We have seen through this mischievous intervention a repeat of what led to an era of sporadic strikes in the Post Office, where agreements are signed outside the bargaining structures that are in place. The undermining of the rule of law and furthermore signing of agreements that are detrimental to the livelihoods of workers can no longer be allowed to continue.
The agreement reached between the Government, SAPO management and their allies in the form of sweetheart unions simply means that there will be no salary increase for workers, there will be no conversion of workers to permanent position till such time that SAPO is in a financially sound position, noting that financial crises in the company is coursed by corrupt management not workers. This further means that workers who have been employed as casuals workers for the past 20 years and who earn R14.00 per hour must continuously live in such conditions and bear the brunt of poverty till such time that Post Office recovers, if it does recover under this management.
The mischievous intervention has awarded those who attacked and assaulted workers in general and CWU members in particular for coming to work and damaged the property - these awards never ended with employment contracts but furthermore they were given powers to employ their colleagues, this was done through the Minister's intervention. As a union we can no longer watch as processes are flouted and rampant favouritism and patronage are the order of the day.
The deepening crisis in the Post Office comes as a result of poor management and bad governance that has taken hold in this institution. It is our view that there is no political will to rescue the Post Office because it is the institution that in the main services the poor sectors of our society, the marginalized, rural communities, SMMEs, the chronically sick and so forth.
We have seen Government intervening in SAA and Eskom, is it because those institutions serve the rich and the giants of the economy? We know very well that the poor do not use flights as a mode of transport, we know very well that with the collapse of Eskom, big businesses will suffer, hence the Government jumps when these two are in crisis.
At the same time, Simo Lushaba a newly appointed administrator has not given himself any opportunity to assess, analyze and verify information before attempting to challenge the union in the media beauty contest, by releasing statistics of the bargaining threshold even before some corruption offsprings' (other unions) membership verification are done by the company. This shows he came with a mandate to destroy the only hope workers have (CWU) and further weaken the bargaining power to advance the interests of the Capitalists Agenda. Such attacks cannot be viewed in isolation with the developments in COSATU and CWU's posture on the matter.
Finally, CWU calls on government to engage the organized formations of workers in the Post Office, in particular the majority union CWU in good faith as part of laying the basis for a lasting resolution to the crisis besetting the institution. As a Red trade union, we shall spare neither time nor energy in ensuring the interest of the working class and the poor are given priority above the narrow class interests of the bourgeoisie and their collaborators.
Statement issued by Aubrey Tshabalala, CWU General Secretary, November 21 2014
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