Trade union Solidarity says it will not hesitate to take legal action against Telkom, which is looking to reduce its entire workforce by 40%.
According to Solidarity, Telkom confirmed in a letter to the union that it plans to cut its workforce by about 6 000 by the end of 2016.
The trade union says Telkom wants to restructure 300 positions in its corporate centre, as well as transfer 1 600 jobs to Business Connexion (BCX) as part of a section 197 business transfer.
Furthermore, it also wants to outsource several of its other functions. In the letter, the company says it anticipates its core workforce of 13 895 will consist of only 8 000 employees by the end of the year, says Solidarity in a statement.
Marius Croucamp, deputy general secretary of the communications industry at Solidarity, says the trade union has approached the court on several occasions in the past to put an end to Telkom's retrenchment processes. "We won't hesitate to approach the court again if Telkom continues with its irrational plan to cut its workforce by 40%. We believe these plans cannot be justified at all.
"This year is the tenth consecutive year Telkom undergoes comprehensive restructuring. However, the latest announcement of 6 000 possible retrenchments is the largest ever and therefore the reasons for the retrenchments should be challenged," adds Croucamp.
On Monday, Bloomberg reported Telkom identified 6 050 positions it wants to eliminate from a total workforce of 13 895. Those include outsourcing 3 750 positions and moving 2 000 to BCX, which Telkom bought last year.
However, Telkom downplayed the looming job cuts report, stating the document Bloomberg has in its possession is an internal strategy document, which has since changed quite a bit.
Jacqui O'Sullivan, managing executive for group communication at Telkom, said: "The numbers the Bloomberg piece quote made an assumption that the potential outsourcing of the networks divisions will go ahead."
Last year, Telkom announced a deal for employees to leave the company voluntarily, and it was reported the process would cost R1.1 billion.
Over the past 10 years, Telkom's employee numbers have been on a steady decline. In 2006' Telkom had 25 575 employees' compared to some 14 000 currently.
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