CWU general secretary Gallant Roberts said talks between Sapo and the union ended early on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Sapo placed a proposal, amounting to R120 million, on the table. This amount would cover salary increases as well as correct the salary anomalies at the root of the dispute between the company and workers.<\/p>\n
Workers downed tools last Thursday, with the union charging that whites earned more than blacks for doing the same job.<\/p>\n
Roberts on Monday said reports he received on Monday indicated that most of the union’s 14,000 members had joined the strike this week.<\/p>\n
Services affected most were mail collection and delivery, and door-to-door and counter-to-counter parcel delivery.<\/p>\n
The union rejected the latest offer and would place a revised proposal on the table when talks resumed on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Roberts said the R120 million would not be sufficient to both correct the disparities and provide increases.<\/p>\n
The offer included an increase of six percent across the board.<\/p>\n
“They need to get more money… the six percent is not a problem if they correct the salary anomalies first, but R120 million would not be enough to do that,” he said.<\/p>\n
Parties would resume talks before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration at 3pm on Monday.<\/p>\n
Sapo’s chief operating officer John Wentzel or a Sapo spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n