Almost 5,000 Post Office employees could be retrenched after they were dealt a big blow after the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and a Single Adjudication Committee ruled that their Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) relief funding application has been denied.
The relief funding application was brought by the Joint Business Rescue Practitioners and relevant labour unions to get funding for the Post Office’s bargaining unit staff.
This week it was announced that the Adjudication Committee had ruled against the relief.
“As was noted in the application agreement, the withdrawal of the termination letters was conditional on the success of the TERS application and if not successful, as is the case now, the bargaining unit category of employees would revert to the current position and so be retrenched.
“This retrenchment impacts 4,889 employees of the bargaining unit staff members,” Joint Business Rescue Practitioner, Anoosh Rooplal said.
Rooplal said they were disappointed with the unsuccessful application as they had been hopeful that the TERS funding would provide a temporary relief to staff members as the funding would have effectively been used to up-skill and re-train staff for possible job placements whilst still earning a salary.
The Post Office failed plan
Rooplal said the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies had also offered to assist with finding placement positions for staff after their upskilling.
Rooplal argued that the funding would have assisted employees as the Post Office tried to become more financially stable and hopefully start to grow as a business entity.
It was envisaged that in the future the organisation would provide positions to the affected staff at the Post Office.
“We tried our very best and acted in good faith, together with the unions, to make a final attempt to apply for TERS relief funding, to limit the impact on possible retrenchments and provide a temporary relief for the bargaining unit”.
“We are conscious of the turmoil that this application and subsequent rejection will and has caused the bargaining unit staff members and their families and for that we are deeply sorry”.
“Should the application have been successful, we believe that the outcome for the affected employees may have led to a better outcome for them and their families, even if it was only for a short period,” Rooplal said.
IOL BUSINESS