Telkom terminations may have snowball effect: union

·9 Jan 2015

Telkom’s decision to terminate the employment contracts of 480 temporary employees could signal the start of similar moves by other companies, Solidarity warned.

The trade union said that this move by the telco group was driven by the new Labour Relations Amendment Act on employment, which came into effect on 1 January 2015.

“The new legislation…will lead to fewer people finding work at all and the contracts of temporary employees not being renewed after three months,” it said.

The new legislation requires employers to offer temporary employees, who have been in their employ for more than three months, the same benefits as permanent employees.

Solidarity Deputy General Secretary Johan Kruger said the government wants to force employers by means of the new legislation to employ temporary workers permanently.

“The amendment of section 198 has the opposite effect, however, as it discourages employers to employ temporary workers. Companies will increasingly subcontract services or scale down certain activities rather than employ temporary workers,” said Kruger.

Kruger warned that Telkom’s move could be the beginning of a flood of similar actions by other employers fuelled by the new legislation.

“Solidarity will make sure that the contracts of its members who are employed on a temporary basis at companies will not be terminated prematurely or in an irregular manner as a result of the new legislation,” he said.

He added that the government should guard against implementing legislation that hampers employment if it is serious about its promises that more job opportunities will be created for South Africans.