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Johannesburg - Trade union Solidarity says white employees of Telkom will “bear the brunt” of the telecommunication company’s retrenchment process.
Solidarity’s claim comes after talks between Telkom and unions collapsed last week over the telecom company’s second stage of its turnaround plan.
Earlier this month, Telkom announced that it plans to cut 4 400 jobs through voluntary severance packages or voluntary early retirement packages and that 3 400 employees will be transferred to outsourced companies as part of an enterprise development programme.
On Monday, Solidarity said that Telkom has issued Section 189 notices to trade unions that indicate that employment equity will be among selection criteria for the restructuring process. Section 189 is a part of the Labour Relations Act that deals with retrenchments.
“We believe that the application of affirmative action targets as selection criteria during retrenchment processes is contrary to the Employment Equity Act. Based on this, we requested Telkom to withdraw the notice,” Solidarity’s head of the telecommunications industry, Marius Croucamp, said in a statement.
“We believe the section 189 notice is premature and that Telkom should first provide for dispute resolution before the process can continue. In addition, the use of race as a selection criteria is not in the best interests of the company and it also contravenes the principles of Telkom’s restructuring forum,” Croucamp said in the statement.
Fin24 contacted Telkom for comment, but the company did not respond at the time of publishing.
Job cuts anger unions
Telkom is cutting jobs as its core fixed-line business in particular comes under pressure.
Even though Telkom reported that its group net revenue increased 3.1% to R26bn for the year ended March 2015, the company’s fixed-line voice usage revenue decreased 13.5% to R6.867bn.
The company is subsequently pursuing cutting jobs as part of its turnaround plan in a move that has angered three unions.
In a joint statement on Friday, the South African Communications Union (Sacu), Solidarity and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) accused Telkom of allegedly turning its back on a restructuring forum format.
In their statement on Friday, the unions also said they haven’t been given sufficient input on Telkom’s turnaround plan.
Solidarity has further criticised Telkom’s enterprise development programme.
“Our members do not have enough information to be able to take the necessary decisions. This process simply has to be halted until proper consultations with trade unions have taken place and all the information has been made available,” Croucamp said.
Croucamp also said that Solidarity will consider legal action against Telkom if the company fails to acknowledge the union’s objections.
