Telkom and unions yesterday failed to make any headway at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) over an ongoing deadlock around wage increases.
The parties have been in talks for weeks and each is now sticking to its guns, with the result that another meeting is set to happen outside the CCMA next Wednesday, two days before the company announces its financial results.
If no resolution is reached next week, another meeting will be held at the CCMA, on 24 June. Failing a solution then, the South African Communications Union (SACU) will ask for a strike certificate.
SACU president Michael Hare says taking job security out of the equation is equivalent to another percentage point hike. He says Telkom does seem to want to talk, but without a resolution in three weeks' time, the union will strike.
Communication Workers Union (CWU) spokesman Dennis Morobe says "everybody is sticking to their guns", but the three unions are also at odds over how to proceed, because the CWU wants salary disparities sorted out, while SACU and Solidarity want job security.
CWU is demanding 11.5%, down from its initial 12%, while inflation is officially 5.9%. Telkom has offered 6%, but warned that anything higher will lead to forced retrenchments at a time when it is going through a voluntary early retirement and retrenchment process.
Solidarity spokesman Marius Croucamp says it is disappointing that the CCMA meeting did not yield a resolution. He says if the next CCMA meeting fails to solve matters, the union will be issued with a certificate of non-resolution and will ask its members for a way forward.
Croucamp says without an offer of job security, the union is not prepared to accept a three-year wage offer, and would insist on a one-year deal. He says the situation at Telkom is "volatile" and workers need protection, but the union will try everything it can to get to a resolution.
Telkom has said it is committed to its engagement with organised labour in the "best interest of its employees and the sustainability of its business".
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