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CWU threatens Telkom with strike

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 30 Mar 2015
The CWU threatens industrial action against Telkom if a favourable outcome is not reached today.
The CWU threatens industrial action against Telkom if a favourable outcome is not reached today.

Fully-fledged industrial action has been put on pause pending the outcome of discussions to be held this afternoon between Telkom and the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

A meeting was held on Friday between the two parties following a dispute lodged with the CCMA by CWU on Telkom's plans to outsource some of its operations. Voluntary severance packages (VSP) and voluntary early retirement packages (VERP) and the extension of the transfer date by a month were discussed. These options were offered to CWU, which declined.

"A signed variation agreement is required before Telkom may legally extend the VSP/VERP offer to CWU members. Unfortunately, CWU did not sign a formal variation agreement on Friday, so at this time, CWU members are still not eligible for the voluntary packages," says Telkom spokesman Jacqui O'Sullivan.

CWU general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala says the nature of the union is to consult with its members and lawyers first before any decision is made. "The formal variation agreement was given to us in the late hours of Friday morning and a signature expected by close of business that same day. It is not realistic to have a response in such a short time."

Tshabalala says the union is calling for Telkom to reverse its decision on outsourcing jobs. "If it goes through, Section 197 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), must be followed through. It states all employee benefits must be kept the same or more. We believe these companies Telkom is outsourcing to, are not offering the same benefits."

The outsourcing is part of Telkom's turnaround strategy implemented in 2013. In February, the company announced the next step in the strategy to unlock further cost-efficiencies and improve customer service involved the section 197 processes. The five areas that would be affected are call centre operations, certain legacy IT billing systems, an internal printing division, supply chain network and operations, as well as the retail supply chain.

O'Sullivan says unions were notified of this process and invited to engage. "Solidarity and Southern African Communications Union (SACU) requested Telkom offer voluntary packages for their affected members. CWU made no comment on this proposal."

O'Sullivan says Telkom acceded to the request and offered all three unions VERPs and VSPs. "The affected staff may be union members but they are firstly our employees... This turnaround strategy is critical to the future sustainability of Telkom but we are committed to doing this in a fair and responsible manner, which is why we agreed to the Solidarity and SACU request.

"SACU and Solidarity accepted the Telkom offer. CWU did not," she notes. Therefore, at this stage, CWU members will not have the option of voluntary packages.

In addition to outsourcing, Telkom will initiate consultation with organised labour, in line with Section 189 of the LRA, related to the closure of 20 unviable Telkom Direct stores.

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