The fallout from the long postal strike

by Editor · December 10, 2014

The long, protracted postal strike has done business in South Africa great harm.�It affected especially small and medium-sized enterprises which rely on the services of a postal system, even one as chronically unreliable and inefficient as that provided by the South African Post Office (Sapo).

The Witspos post office is the main distributor of mail in Johannesburg. (Photo: Mail & Guardian)

The strike has also done great damage, probably lasting, to The Southern Cross, more of which later.

The strikers� grievances, it must be noted, had merit, even if some vandalism in expressing these showed a deplorable disregard for those customers on whose patronage the Post Office and its workers would rely after the strike.

It has become an unfortunate feature of South African labour relations that in disputes between employers and labour, the needs and rights of uninvolved third parties are often treated with disregard and even contempt. For this, trade unions must be held answerable.

In the postal strike, however, the greater culpability resides with Sapo, which in its highest mismanaging echelons treated its workers poorly and in defiance of good labour practice.

The government must be held to account as well. How could the Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services allow a situation where workers for a state-owned enterprise were exploited for so many years, and be deaf to their situation? Where was the due oversight? And what, if anything, did the ministry do to minimise the effects of the strike on the public and the economy?

Threats by the Communication Workers Union that the strike may resume if Sapo does not accede to its demands, which the union says are not covered by the deal that ended the industrial action in November, are ominous.

Between the actions and inactions of labour, Sapo and the government, one might well speak of economic sabotage. Several businesses have gone to the wall or have come close to it because of the long strike and its after-effects.

Accounts and payments have been undelivered, and trade by mail was made impossible in the absence of a cost-effective alternative. A group of publications is even considering a class action suit against the Post Office.

The Southern Cross was badly affected by the strike, as most of its readers will know.

The newspaper is distributed by post to most parishes around South Africa. Currently only the bigger parishes in Cape Town and Johannesburg receive direct delivery; in the case of Johannesburg this is so because even in good times the postal service in that city � South Africa�s commercial hub � is chronically unreliable.

In the absence of postal services during the strike, The Southern Cross took to distributing the newspaper to many regions by courier services. Sales by this method of distribution came at a deficit.

The grave injury inflicted by the postal strike on the newspaper was moderated by the understanding and generosity of many parishes which decided not to claim against copies that were unsold because the newspapers were undelivered.

These are the participants at the 1919 meeting of bishops and others in Durban that committed the local Church to launch a national Catholic weekly. In the front are (from left): Mgr Frederick Kolbe, Mgr Kelly of East London, Bishop MacSherry, Bishop Delalle, Bishop Cenez of Basutoland, Mgr Lanslots OSB?of Northern Transvaal, Fr James Kelly (who would become the first editor). In the back row are Oblate Fathers O�Donnell OMI (second from left) and Sormany (fourth from left). Fr O�Donnell promoted The Southern Cross while Fr Sormany first raised the idea of a Catholic weekly.

This week we publish the letter from one such priest, Fr Barry Reabow SAC, who explains the reasons for his parish�s decision to aid The Southern Cross.

The staff of The Southern Cross have been touched by the solidarity and generosity they experienced from many priests and parishioners in extremely difficult times: from the priest in Pretoria who on Facebook called on his fellow priests not to claim for unsold copies, to the priest who made a weekly 240km roundtrip by train to collect the bundle of newspapers for his parish, to the many messages of prayers from concerned priests and readers.

Even the staff of the newspaper, in both administration and editorial departments, are foregoing their annual Christmas bonus this year to aid their newspaper.

These various expressions of solidarity have helped the newspaper, which has always run on delicate financial margins.

“…the injury of the postal strike has significantly weakened The Southern Cross� finances”

Nevertheless, the injury of the postal strike has significantly weakened The Southern Cross� finances.

The strike might have other consequences, too. There is a grave concern that parishes which cancelled their weekly order because of the strike might not resume selling The Southern Cross, or do so in diminished quantities (as some parishes have done already). In this way, the strike�s harmful effects are long-term, even permanent.

The massive loss of revenue and the cost of using alternative ways of distribution cannot be made up by normal operational income, except by instituting a price increase we currently do not want to make.

Because of the strike, the newspaper has had to draw from its reserves that it cannot replenish through income from sales and advertising, which is used to keep the operation running.

During the 2013/14 financial year The Southern Cross closed its books with a small surplus, showing that this wholly unsubsidised newspaper can still sustain itself.

However, another postal strike or a couple of successive bad years could see the demise of the 94-year-old Southern Cross.

The Southern Cross therefore needs the help of South Africa�s Catholic community. This can be done in several ways:

By becoming an Associate and giving direct financial support to strengthening and protecting the newspaper�s reserves, as well as to sustain The Southern Cross� various outreach programmes;
Helping to boost circulating by actively promoting The Southern Cross in the parish, making the newspaper an integral part of parish life;
Using The Southern Cross as an advertising platform.

And, as in all things Catholic, you can also support The Southern Cross through your prayers.

Read the history of The Southern Cross newspaper�The Southern Cross History Part 1