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CWU: CWU statement

CWU: CWU statement
Photo by Duane

5th May 2016

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/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

On South African Post Office

It is important to note that a certificate of “non-resolution of the dispute” which effectively means certificate to strike, was obtained at the CCMA in January 2016 by Communication Workers Union (CWU).  Also to note is that CWU had been given a mandate by her members to embark on a full blown industrial action that is indefinite.  However CWU opted to engage with management of SAPO through various platforms, further to engage with the minister of the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services.  Furthermore we have embarked on pockets of street demonstrations to voice our frustrations. This will include a march to the Union Building, to various Legislature houses in the country, to Parliament, to SAPO head Offices and lastly to Luthuli House.   We mention this because we want you to understand that this trade union movement has explored all avenues to find an amicable solution.  This was done to minimise the impact of the strike in the company.  In addition, the arrogance of the Secretary General of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe, forces us to embark on an industrial action.

However the National Treasury’s reluctance to inject funds into the South African Post Office confirms our fears that this Department serves interests of the Private Sector.  We have no doubt in our minds that hyenas are waiting on the sidelines to see the Post Office collapsing in order for them to feed on its carcass through privatisation of this SOE.  We condemn the intensification of neoliberal policies that advance capitalism that benefits the minority rich in particular White Monopoly Capital while our people continue to live in bondage of poverty, deprivation and suffering.  We mention this because our government fails to recognise the fact that they should be in the forefront in terms of using SAPO as a sole service provider on issues of Postal and Courier Services.  We therefore reject the nonsensical and annoying announcement by the Minister of Home Affairs that he has signed a memorandum of understanding with three major banks, namely, Standard Bank, Nedbank and First National Bank for the new innovation of signing up for new smart ID cards. 

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Minister Gigaba’s conscience should have directed him to prioritise SAPO and Post Bank to procure such business with the state.  No significant efforts have been made by the government to do business with SAPO from local to national government instead foreign and privately owned businesses are considered.  The SOE is being put into an open market where it competes with private multinational companies whereas its prising is regulated by ICASA.  This puts SAPO in a compromising position where it needs to battle it out with the private sector but without charging competitive rates.  We therefore call for the reinstatement of the Post Office subsidy.  All of these absurdities are being done deliberately by deployees of the African National Congress (ANC) in government and therefore it is our duty to take these genuine worker grievances to the door step of the ANC.

The newly appointed SAPO CEO is quickly learning bad habits of the old Post Office management.  He has neglected few critical areas that demanded his immediate attention.

1. SAPO still applies the old yet very expensive modus operandi - where they neglected their own building and opted to use highly expensive Shopping Mall outlets. i.e. Post Office in KwaXuma (Soweto) outlet (a building owned by SAPO) has been neglected and a more expensive and hired outlet has been used in Jabulani mall, and are 500 meters separated from each other. And this is the case in Midrand at the Boulders Mall and many other areas in the country.

2. In the report of the Public Protector it has been stated that, the procurement division policies need to be reviewed because they are flawed.   However SAPO still continues to procure buildings to date using the very same model that has landed us in this crisis.

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3. There’s still no respect to organised labour in the company in particular on issues of bargaining processes. The CEO opts to use touch base (an internal communique) to communicate his solo decisions on bargaining matters without engaging in proper forums with the trade unions.

We further condemn his announcement on media that CWU members must not listen to their leadership but give him 6 weeks, to address their issues.  This is another sign that he is fast behaving like his predecessors, where labour was often undermined. We can no longer wait for the back payments of 2014, salary increases of 2015 and the 2016 salary increases. Our members are tired of being casuals for the past 22 years without benefits, our members can no longer continue to fork out money from their pockets to fix their working tools like bicycles and to buy workplace toiletry.  Our members are tired of empty promises.

We have then served the company with a 48 hours notice to strike.  Our action starts today (5th of May 2016) nationally.  In Cape Town there will be a march heading to SAPO to hand over our memorandum.  Tomorrow (6th of May 2016) there will be a march in Durban (KZN) that will go to SAPO and the Legislature and in Johannesburg (Gauteng) will proceed to Johannesburg Central Police station to open officially a case against those who were fingered by the Public Protector’s report.  Then the march will head for Luthuli House since the African National Congress failed workers by not responding to our memorandum handed over on the 14th of April 2016.

On Telkom

There’s no improvement in terms of engagements in so far as the question of job shedding is concerned.  Our view is that Sipho Maseko (Telkom’s CEO) has a mandate from high powers to retrench workers and ultimately to collapse Telkom SA. This once again indicates that our government has been seriously infiltrated by white monopoly capital. The unstoppable Maseko demonstrates that the minister is toothless and has no authority over Telkom even though the government is a major shareholder.  The company has moved from 23 000 to less than 12000 to date in two years under Maseko’s watch.   How possible is it that a CEO of the company undermines the government’s project of creating quality and sustainable jobs? Why is Luthuli House openly undermined by Maseko.  Thus far they have failed to secure a meeting with him to discuss these issues? We are therefore making our last call on Telkom and government, that the processes that relate to outsourcing and retrenchments must be stopped with immediate effect.

Failure to accede to our demands will soon result in us announcing a full-blown industrial action in Telkom.
We further call for the government to reduce the spectrum in Telkom since it’s not advancing any national interest.

On MTN

We are currently sitting in Salary Negotiations with MTN SA where the company is pleading poverty.  Our demands are reasonable and basic and some of these issues are long overdue since there were agreements entered into.  However the MTN’s 2015 Integrated Business Report revealed that it paid its former group Chief Executive Sifiso Dabengwa a whooping R23.7m.   As CWU we view this as an insult that a man who led a company into a crisis in Nigeria where the Nigerian Communications Commission fined MTN $5.2bn for failing to adhere to local regulations could be given these millions.  According to reports this has resulted in the share price of the company dropping by almost a fifth of its value. Therefore it can’t be workers who have to pay the price while the elites take home massive packages after they have messed up.  We therefore warn MTN that CWU will not tolerate an insulting salary increase.  We will accept that at the end of negotiations no worker will go home without a housing allowance and there should be no further delay in converting all remaining workers into permanent positions.

The ICT Industry in General

This is a clear indication that the ICT industry is flooded with a man-made crisis because of crass materialism. We also have a dispute on salary negotiations at Trudon where we are waiting for workers to give us a mandate in terms of the wayforward.  The Broadband Infraco is in crisis because the decision taken by government differs from resolutions taken at the ANC's National Conference.   At Vodacom we’re concerned about what is unfolding around the “BBBEE Yebo Yethu Shares” while we still having a dispute on how the shares were distributed where black people in general were disadvantaged and the major beneficiaries were their white colleagues.  To add salt to injury, workers are told to borrow from these shares instead of encashing them.   In another SOE, Sentech, we have an agreement on the guaranteed 13th cheque that has to be paid to workers, however this agreement has not been implemented.

The WNS

The WNS has taken CWU to court, for allegedly making derogatory statements.   The WNS is a company that is benefiting from the Telkom outsourcing.  We won’t say much about them except to say we’re meeting them in the Johannesburg High court on the 10th of May 2016.   We invite media to attend this case.

In closing CWU will continue to engage all its members in the industry, for us to intensify our struggle against oppressive White Monopoly Capital.

 

Issued by Communication Workers Union

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