The Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) is awaiting approval from the Cabinet to reduce its staff and put others on short-term contracts as it attempts to arrest a massive decline in revenues and profits.
According to an internal document, the Communication Workers Union (COWU) had earlier called for the reduction of general managers at Postal Corporation as one way of saving the parastatal from collapse.
The union also wants the corporation’s board dissolved saying it has failed in its mandate even as workers lament non-payment of their salaries since November last year.
Last month, the workers staged a sit in to protest the alleged non-payment of salaries and aired other issues affecting them. But the union says their concerns have fallen on deaf ears and are calling for speedy measures to rescue the parastatal from self-destruction.
The union wants senior managers reduced to a sustainable level to cut on cost of operations.
However, the telco will have to overcome strong opposition from employee unions before it can implement this proposal.
“There is need to undertake rationalization aligned to job evaluation, skills audit, succession planning and voluntary retirement,” says Posta in its 2019/2022 revised corporate strategic plan.
Posta plans to put its staff including senior managers under three-year renewable contracts, which will be based on performance, away from the current permanent and pensionable terms.
The decline in using physical letters as a means of communication has been affected by the uptake of digital forms of communications such as email, SMS and social media app has led to the drastic changes,
The loss-making parastatal that is currently struggling to stay afloat operates 640 post offices and partners with about 5,000 stamp vendor licensees across the country.