Telkom says that it will side-step unions and offer its employees voluntary severance and early retirement packages directly.<\/p>\n
It follows a deadlock in negotiations with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) this week, the telco said.<\/p>\n
As part of its ongoing restructuring strategy, it was previously reported about 1,236 temporary and contract Telkom employees would be affected by a Section 197 process at the company.<\/p>\n
The Section 197 process relates to the outsourcing of services at Telkom.<\/p>\n
During negotiations, Telkom said it offered all unions the opportunity to access Voluntary Severance Packages (VSP) and Voluntary Early Retirement Packages (VERP) for their affected members.<\/p>\n
The telecoms firm said it also offered to extend the transfer date for exiting employees from 31 March, to 30 April.<\/p>\n
While SACU and Solidarity accepted the offer, the CWU declined, Telkom said. “As CWU had withheld their majority consensus, the offer was withdrawn from all unions,” it said.<\/p>\n
Telkom, said it has spent the past two weeks engaging with the CWU to try and secure and “equitable outcome” for employees affected by the Section 197 process.<\/p>\n
“In the face of this deadlock, Telkom is exercising its right as the employer, to approach its affected employees directly,” the group said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Telkom respects the right of our people to choose to be affiliated to a union, we also know that union members are firstly Telkom employees,” said Telkom spokesman, Jacqui O\u2019Sullivan.<\/p>\n
“Our affected employees have made it very clear that they want the option of a VSP or VERP in making their final decision. This has repeatedly been communicated by many of the affected employees to their Telkom line managers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Telkom said that all members of the CWU whom are affected by the current Section 197 process are now eligible to apply for a VSP or VERP.<\/p>\n
Telkom explains poor service levels<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Telkom restructuring hits over 1,000 employees<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n