Van stoned during Post Office protest

2012-05-16 20:08

Johannesburg - Johannesburg metro police officers intervened in a protest by Post Office contract workers on Wednesday after a vehicle was pelted with stones.

Communication Workers' Union (CWU) members were demanding that their contract positions become permanent jobs.

"We have had enough. We want to be employed permanently with benefits," said 28-year-old protester Vincent Nxumalo.

Nxumalo has been working as a contract worker for 10 years at the SA Post Office (Sapo) in Gauteng.

Metro police vehicles had to cut off protesters who threw stones at a post office van earlier in the day.

The driver tried to get when the protesters stormed the vehicle, but then reversed away.

A meeting between the union and Sapo was set for Friday to discuss a labour broker issue from 2005.

The union said an agreement between the CWU and Sapo in 2005 about converting contract workers under labour brokers to permanent positions had not been put into effect.

Several hundred of the union's members march from Cosatu House in the city centre to deliver a memorandum to Sapo's regional office.

A second memorandum was handed to the premier's office.

The union said it would march to the premier's office again if she had not responded by Tuesday.

CWU spokesperson Matankana Mothapo said all Post Office depots and mail centres in Gauteng were closed on Wednesday.

- SAPA