Telecommunications

Telkom management cull numbers revealed

Staff Writer

 ·26 Jun 2014

Union Solidarity says that the latest round of retrenchments by Telkom will see 345 managers sacked by the group.

The retrenchments form part of the group’s “Fit for the Future” project, which includes management structure changes and job cuts affecting up to 2,635 management staff.

According to Solidarity, it consulted with Telkom on 19 and 24 June 2014. During the first meeting, Telkom said that remuneration package would be calculated as follows with a minimum of four weeks  remuneration.

• For the first ten years: 1,5 weeks for each completed year of service;
• For service of 11 years and longer: one week for each completed year of service;
• Notice pay of four months;
• Payment of all accrued leave as determined by the policy;
• Pension monies;
• Telephone rebate benefits for those who qualify for early retirement. Rebate can be surrendered at R5 000;
• Social Plan: R30,000 may be used for further studies, R4,000 of which may be used to purchase tools;
• Employees will be exempted from bursary obligations and other service and  contractual obligations;
• Employers older than 50 may apply for early retirement in terms of the pension fund rules.

At the meeting on Tuesday (24 June), Solidarity noted that Telkom kicked off by presenting new structures with the changes made in response to inputs from employees.

“This new structure has already been approved by the board,” Solidarity said.

“Again, the old structures were not available and we did not have an opportunity to ask questions about why jobs changed or were reduced,” the union said, adding however, that Telkom argued that it was impossible to compare the old structures with the new ones.

The telco, it said, undertook to go out of its way to have the information available at the next meeting, which is still to be scheduled.

The staff totals of the respective units were presented to the trade union, however, noting that Telkom intends to only retrench 345 managers.

Changes by division

Changes in COO division

In an interview with Talk Radio 702 in May, Telkom CEO, Sipho Maseko said that between the customer and top management, Telkom has approximately 13 layers, whilst its competitors had between eight and nine.

Maseko said that the layers generate a lot of complexity, adding that he is trying to create an organisation where leadership was closer to customer issues.

The company also aims to save R5 billion in costs over the short to medium term.

More on Telkom

Telkom employees out in the cold by June?

Telkom not consulting with unions

Telkom cannot afford another jobs bloodbath: CWU