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Johannesburg - Local telecommunications company Telkom [JSE:TKG] has “unequivocally rejected” claims that it is targeting white employees as part of its job cuts drive.
On Monday, trade union Solidarity said whites are being targeted in Telkom’s latest round of job cuts because the telecoms company indicated that “employment equity will be among selection criteria for the restructuring process”.
As part of the second stage of its turnaround phase, Telkom announced earlier this month that it plans to cut 4 400 jobs through voluntary severance packages or voluntary early retirement packages.
Moreover, Telkom said 3 400 employees would be transferred to outsourced companies as part of an enterprise development programme.
But the telecoms company has lashed out at Solidarity’s claims that it is targeting whites with regard to retrenchments.
“The inflammatory and misleading inference by Solidarity that race is the key selection criterion and that white employees will be targeted, is unequivocally rejected,” said Jacqui O'Sullivan, Telkom’s managing executive for group communication and public relations.
“It's regrettable that Solidarity has chosen to play the race card again, in the context of a process that needs to address critical challenges that the company is facing,” O’Sullivan added.
O’Sullivan further explained that in its notice to unions regarding section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, Telkom has proposed that “LIFO (Last in First Out) subject to the retention of scarce and critical skills and where applicable, employment equity considerations” be part of the selection criteria.
Section 189 of the act deals with retrenchments.
Commenting further, O’Sullivan said that “Telkom would prefer to focus on the consultation that it has been initiated and will take place within the structured LRA (Labour Relations Act) process, rather than pursuing media headlines with misleading hyperbole”.
“As with any company, Telkom looks at a number of employment criteria in deciding to bring people into the company or to retain them during times of change. Most importantly, we are a technology company so our people must be equipped with the necessary skills to perform the required body-of-work. They would also be required to have the correct qualifications and training and importantly, the necessary aptitude and attitude to be a part of the Telkom of the future,” said O’Sullivan.
According to documents seen by Fin24 earlier this year, Telkom on January 31 2015 employed a total of about 18 384 employees.
