Sapo said in a statement it would meet the Communication Workers’ Union at the offices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in a bid to resolve the dispute over salary differentials.<\/p>\n
Just over half the parastatal’s employees were on strike on Friday morning, with over 90 percent of mail workers not reporting for work.<\/p>\n
Services affected most were mail collection and delivery, and door-to-door and counter-to-counter parcel delivery.<\/p>\n
Contingency plans had been activated and as a result some services remained available “albeit at a slower pace”, the statement said.<\/p>\n
One hundred and fifty out the 2400 post office branches did not open on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
“We want to assure our customers that we are doing everything possible to get to a speedy resolution of this issue,” said Sapo chief operating officer John Wentzel. He rejected union claims of an “apartheid gap” in salaries.<\/p>\n
“The salary differentials cut across race and gender and they result mainly from normal operational activities like transfers, training and development and long term service,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The South African Post Office does not pay salaries according to race or gender.”<\/p>\n