Telkom says it will not renew the contracts of 480 temporary call centre staff, as part of its focus on cost-cutting and restructuring across the organisation.
Telkom's managing executive for group communication, Jacqui O'Sullivan, says the company is currently focused on its turnaround, and this is "a prudent and necessary business decision, at this time". This comes as Telkom seeks to cut costs across the board, which also includes a retrenchment phase.
O'Sullivan points out the affected employees have served Telkom well, but have only ever been "non-full-time" employees. She describes the move as "not an easy decision", but adds the company had already communicated with the workers in November that it would not renew their contracts.
"In line with Telkom's ongoing focus on cost management and its overall business turnaround, the company has taken the decision not to renew a number of contracts with call centre agents, whom had been operating in a temporary capacity," O'Sullivan explains.
She adds the 480 temporary staff were notified in November that their contracts would not be renewed beyond the current contract periods. Some of the contracts conclude at the end of December and others at the end of January.
"These are never simple or easy decisions to take. We understand this decision will have an impact on these temporary workers and their families and we wanted to provide them with some advance notice of the company's intentions. We are grateful for their support but, at this time, we no longer require these additional resources."
O'Sullivan explains the functions of the temporary staff will be moved in-house, saying Telkom is comfortable it has sufficient capacity within its existing structures to manage its queries and call volumes.
Meanwhile, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has stepped into the fray and has reportedly submitted a letter of dispute to Telkom, warning it would take the matter to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration if it came to that.
But O'Sullivan denies there is a dispute between Telkom and the union, saying the company has not been in contact with the CWU. She reiterated the move not to renew the 480 contracts was not a termination of employment, but simply a decision not to resign contracts beyond their current periods.
CWU president Clyde Mervin did not comment this morning, despite initially indicating he would speak to ITWeb.
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