Pretoria - The Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Dr Siyabonga Cwele, has engaged with all stakeholders of the SA Post Office (Sapo) in an effort to end the post office strike.
“We assure all South Africans that we will continue to engage all stakeholders and work tirelessly to bring an end to the industrial action in order to restore service delivery,” Minister Cwele said.
The strike by the Communication Workers’ Union, now in its ninth week, has had led to post offices across the country closing intermittently.
About 7 900 casual postal workers are demanding to be given permanent employment.
Management and the unions are engaging workers in attempt to get them back to work, the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services said.
“We are encouraged by the progress made thus far. We are committed to serving South Africans,” said Minister Cwele.
Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services spokesperson Siyabulela Qoza said all the stakeholders had noted the negative impact of the on-going industrial action, the financial state of the post office and the violence and intimidation.
“The Minister asked the Sapo management to open forums of engagement with representatives of workers, which were previously inaccessible and management has opened the forums of engagement and is currently utilising these to engage with labour,” Qoza said. – SAnews.gov.za
