Joburg - Cosatu has slammed the South African Post Office for forcing its employees to take a salary cut while its top managers continue raking in millions in salaries.
The federation said in a statement issued on Friday that more than 16 000 SA post office employees were affected by the 40% pay cut to their already overstretched salaries, while the post office was being mismanaged and sabotaged to fail.
“Cosatu condemns in the strongest possible terms the shocking abuses being imposed upon the 16 000 hard-working post office employees. The threats to force workers to take effective 40% salary cuts while the CEO oversees the staggering mismanagement and systematic destruction of the once well-respected post office is nothing short of scandalous,” Cosatu said.
Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said last year the post office failed to pay its employees their backpay wages and also denied them medical aid benefits by withholding the funds that were deducted from these employees.
“This latest attack comes on the back of the same management failing to pay these workers their backpay for the financial year and denying them access to their medical aid services by fraudulently failing to transfer their contributions to their scheme despite deducting them. This is a criminal offence that the Hawks, SARS, SAPS, and the NPA need to be seized with,” Pamla said.
Cosatu said it was heartbreaking to witness yet another state-owned entity being allowed to collapse while employees were being subjected to and threatened with retrenchments.
“We agree with the Communications Workers Union (CWU) that the Post Office should have been compensated after the separation of the Post Bank from the Post Office. We call on the government to work with the union to find an amicable solution and take seriously the issues they have been raising with regard to their working conditions.
“The state needs to build more capacity if the state of the economy and the nation are to recover from the period of state capture, corruption and political vandalism,” he said.
The Star