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Tech agency to axe up to 75 staff, says union

Martin Czernowalow
By Martin Czernowalow, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 25 Sept 2014
Up to 75 workers would lose their jobs at the TIA, which is currently restructuring.
Up to 75 workers would lose their jobs at the TIA, which is currently restructuring.

Trade union Solidarity says it and other unions will have their first consultation with the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) tomorrow, regarding the state-owned organisation's planned lay-offs.

The embattled agency is counting on a major restructuring process to help it return to efficiency and overcome a long history of mismanagement. However, it warned the restructure would see retrenchments - with as many as a third of its current 193 employees potentially facing the axe.

Earlier this week, the TIA's interim CEO, Rivka Kfir, cautioned against attaching specific numbers to the retrenchments, emphasising that "nothing has been finalised".

But Solidarity now says it received a Section 189A notice from TIA earlier, indicating as many as 75 employees would be affected by the retrenchment process, adding the agency has informed it that it plans to improve its efficiency and profitability by way of retrenchments.

The union says it will do everything in its power to limit the planned layoffs at the TIA and to find other, sensible solutions for the company's problems.

Jahni Cowley, sector coordinator of the professional industry at Solidarity, says lay-offs should be the last resort for a company whose growth and performance are under pressure. "Solidarity wants to help put the company on the road to prosperity by means of constructive and sensible negotiations. Unfortunately, the company has been mismanaged thus far and loyal employees now have to suffer for it."

According to Cowley, the retrenchment process will be facilitated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). "The CCMA's facilitation of the process will help to ensure the negotiations are fair and transparent. Solidarity will also do everything it can to limit the effect of the layoffs on its members," she said.

The TIA has seen much internal turmoil in the past year, and Kfir was appointed to oversee the agency in May, following the dismissal of CEO Simphiwe Duma and CFO Barbara Kortjaas for misconduct and maladministration.

Adding to the agency's woes is the fact that its funding has been slashed by R130 million - to about R400 million - in the latest medium-term expenditure framework published by government. However, Kfir is adamant the smaller budget has nothing to do with the upcoming retrenchments.

Instead, she explains, administration costs, which eat into a large portion of the agency's budget, need to be reduced. "We are working hard to streamline the agency's structure," Kfir notes.

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