Telkom suspends retrenchments
Trade Union, Solidarity, says that Telkom has suspended its retrenchment process, with a new undertaking expected to start on Monday 21 July 2014.
The union said that the suspension is a result of the flawed process undertaken by Telkom, which did not gather sufficient input from unions regarding its retrenchment plans.
Solidarity met with Telkom on 17 July 2014, and reached a settlement which will be taken to court next week to be made an order of the Labour Court.
The union said that an external facilitator has been appointed to drive the new process.
According to a letter from Telkom on 16 July 2014 the new facilitated process, which will be led by Charles Nupen, will address the following issues:
- The proposed organisational structures across all business units;
- The selection criteria, including the placement process of staff;
- Voluntary severance packages and any further alternatives which the unions may wish to propose;
- The severance packages;
- The timing of the proposed retrenchments;
- Other matters which the parties agree on.
New appointments at Telkom will also be put on hold until the new process has been completed, Solidarity said.
The union said that it expects the new proceedings to push back retrenchments by up to two months.
Solidarity initially filed papers with the Labour Court last week to prevent Telkom from sacking its members, claiming Telkom used race as a criteria.
The telco however, stressed that race was not the only criteria for its retrenchment policy. “The fact is that Telkom’s focus is on retaining the right skills for its turnaround strategy and will consider several criteria throughout its restructuring process,” it said in a statement last week.
“Employment equity is one of the four criteria applied to the restructuring,” Telkom said, adding that just like any South African company it is required to comply with the Employment Equity Act.
In a note on social media site, Twitter, on Thursday (17 July), Solidarity said: “Telkom retrenchments halted, Telkom agree to facilitation of process with Solidarity and it will be made an order of the Labour Court.”
Telkom aims to reduce its management pool which will affect up to 2,650 managerial staff.
The company is looking to reduce the number of management layers and achieve an employee cost-to-revenue ratio of 25% over the next 5 years, from 30% currently.
Telkom did not respond to questions by the time of publication.
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