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Union to picket at Telkom, Post Office outlets

Johannesburg -  Workers plan to picket at outlets and offices belonging to telecoms operator Telkom and the South African Post Office (Sapo) during lunch time on Wednesday, February 25 2015.

This is according to the Communication Workers Union (CWU) President Clyde Mervin.

Speaking to Fin24, Mervin said the picketing action by CWU is planned to take place outside Telkom’s head office in Pretoria, Telkom outlets and in post offices across the country.

Mervin said CWU initially wanted to picket outside Parliament in Cape Town during Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene’s budget speech on Wednesday. But there are other marches planned in Cape Town on the day, meaning CWU is rather resorting to picketing at Telkom and Post Office outlets.

"We are not going on strike; we are going to go and do picketing,” Mervin told Fin24.

He said the picketing is expected to happen between 12h00 and 13h00 on Wednesday.

Telkom picketing

CWU is launching picketing action against Telkom amid the telecom operator’s restructuring plans.

Last week, Telkom announced that it expects to shut down several of its Direct stores, review its properties and implement outsourcing with regard to its IT systems and call centres.

Fin24 subsequently revealed the 20 Telkom stores that face closure and reported on details about possible job cuts.

CWU’s Mervin told Fin24 that his union is taking issue with Telkom’s restructuring plans.

"What we want to bring across is more about Telkom to retrench and to outsource its own certain entities. That's one of the big issues,” Mervin told Fin24.

"Because Telkom from 1999 had people which was round about 70 000. Today when I'm speaking to you, Telkom sits at 19 000,” he said.

According to details in a Telkom letter to labour union Solidarity, the telecoms operator has 18 384 employees and retrenched 379 employees in the last 12 months.

"Now you can see how many jobs have been lost, and you can see how all the jobs have been lost. And all of the jobs have been lost through retrenchments and nothing else,” he added.

Fin24 reached out to Telkom for comment on the planned picketing action, but the telecoms operator has not responded yet.

Last week Telkom told Fin24 that it has been in discussions with unions regarding its turnaround plan. And Mervin confirmed with Fin24 that CWU has been in talks with the telecoms firm.

“Telkom has made it clear from the start of this turnaround project, that it wishes to avoid job losses and that retrenchment would only be considered, as a last resort,” Jacqui O'Sullivan, Managing Executive of Group Communication and PR at Telkom, told Fin24 in an emailed statement last week.

O’Sullivan last week further said that ongoing discussions with unions were planned on the restructuring measures.

Post Office

Meanwhile, CWU is not currently in talks with the Post Office, according to Mervin.

Last year, a three month strike brought the Post Office to its knees, resulting in delays with SA's postal services.

Around 7 900 Sapo casual workers across the country demanded an 8% wage hike and permanent employment.

The strike ended late last year when the SA Postal and Allied Workers Union (Sapawu), CWU and the Democratic Postal and Communications Union (Depacu) agreed to a settlement with Sapo.

At the time, CWU said it was not happy with the agreement and that it had no choice but to return to work

"You'll recall that we have not signed an agreement with the post office on salary negotiations,” Mervin told Fin24 on Tuesday.

The CWU is demanding salary increases, the reattachment of salaries for over 500 workers who were dismissed last year and the removal of the Post Office administrator, Mervin said.

In November 2014, Dr Simo Lushaba was appointed as administrator of Sapo.

Government gave Lushaba three months to implement a turnaround at the Post Office.

"He’s (Lushaba) saying there's no money but his company has been paid more R16m for the last three months,” Mervin claimed.

"So we are worried about: we don't have money to  pay the suppliers, we don't have money to pay salary increases, we don't have money to give workers employment,” Mervin said.

Sapo, though, has hit out at CWU's plan to picket at post offices.

"The SA Post Office has not received the 48-hour notice for a strike, which is prescribed by the law," Sapo acting Group CEO Mlu Mathonsi told Fin24.

"Outside of this, any strike is illegal. As said previously, any service disruption at this point in the life of the SA Post Office will cause the organisation to implode. Furthermore,  the SA Post Office can prosecute offenders who commit crimes in terms of the Postal Services Act. Any member of staff who willfully interferes with the conveyance of any mail or through his actions or neglect hampers other employees from getting to their workstations, either through illegal gatherings or blocking work entrances can be charged in terms of the Postal services Act," said Mathonsi.

Listen to Fin24 technology editor Gareth van Zyl interview CWU President Clyde Mervin about the planned picketing action:

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