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Johannesburg - The Solidarity trade union wants Telkom to
place a two-year moratorium on retrenchments, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
"At the first round of wage negotiations that took place
at Telkom last Thursday, trade union Solidarity demanded that, apart from a
general wage increase for two years, a two-year moratorium on retrenchments be
implemented retroactively from 1 April this year," said spokesperson
Marius Croucamp.
Telkom had given more than 1 650 permanent employees
voluntary retrenchment packages leading to a skills shortage at the
telecommunications company, he said.
"However, it appears that more voluntary severance
packages will be offered, as Telkom wants to include a formal mechanism for
voluntary severance packages in this year's wage agreement."
Croucamp said Telkom was offering a wage increase of 4.5%
while Solidarity wanted 12%.
"Issues concerning standby allowances, telephone
allowances, leave and payouts for long service periods will also be discussed
during the negotiations."
He said the next round of wage negotiations at Telkom would
take place on June 8.
Telkom spokesperson Pynee Chetty was not immediately able to comment.
