The South African Communications Union (SACU) will start with the first phase of its strike action by organising lunchtime pickets and refusing to work overtime this week, in a bid to force Telkom to revise its wage offer.
Should this week's action fail to resolve the current stalemate over wage negotiations, union members will down tools in a bid to bring rollout of the next-generation network to a grinding halt. Telkom's new all IP-based network is core to its convergence strategy and it needs to monetise it as quickly as possible.
However, a week-long strike by SACU's 3 900 members would push out deployment by as much as a month. Solidarity is pondering asking its members for a mandate to strike, while only the Communication Workers Union (CWU) is happy with the bulk of Telkom's offer.
Deadline looms
SACU president Michael Hare says yet another meeting between Telkom and the three unions - SACU, CWU and Solidarity - on Friday failed to resolve the months-long impasse over salary negotiations.
The union has taken umbrage at Telkom's proposal that the 6% wage hike be used by unions to sort out salary discrepancies, which will see some staff members getting an increase that is lower than inflation.
Hare says CWU has accepted the deal with a few minor changes, but both SACU and Solidarity have rejected it outright. He says SACU has obtained a strike certificate and is formulating its strike strategy for next week.
This week, as a start, its members will have lunchtime pickets, refuse to work overtime and work to rule, doing no more than the minimum required by their contracts, notes Hare. He says the union is prepared to engage with Telkom this week, but there is a great possibility there will not be a resolution. "We're giving them this week."
The current two-year wage deal expired at the end of March and was the result of prolonged negotiations, which was settled through a last-minute offer by Telkom, narrowly averting a strike.
Hare says industrial action would have a big effect on the operator's network rollout plans. He explains that it has cut down on contractors by 60% and is more reliant on its own staff for the project.
Vital upgrade
Telkom's new all-IP network will enable true converged offerings and is a commercially-led national broadband rollout. CEO Sipho Maseko has said Telkom aims to monetise the new network "fast" and it will lead to a "step change" in data.
In the next two years, Telkom expects to spend north of R10 billion on the network. It initially said the deployment would cost between R18 billion and R21 billion over three years.
In the year to March, Telkom spent R5.7 billion on capital expenditure, a 20% increase on last year's R4.783 million.
SACU will bring the rollout "to a halt", says Hare, as Telkom is working towards tight timelines and a week's delay will set it back by a month. He adds that Telkom wants 60% of the network done this year, and wants a return on its investment in year three of the rollout.
The next-generation network is Telkom's flagship and at the core of its convergence plans, says Hare. He says a delay will have a "painful" impact and it looks likely SACU will bring rollout to a grinding halt next week. "Even one day will have a huge impact."
The agreement to be inked by CWU is problematic because Telkom cannot implement individual agreements, explains Hare. He says this makes the chance of a solution this week slim. "You cannot have two different agreements."
While the union is prepared to negotiate, it will not engage any further until Telkom has informed staff it wants to implement a new salary model. He says it has not told staff it is moving to a performance-based system and will be benchmarking salaries.
Unacceptable
Solidarity spokesman Marius Croucamp says the union does not regard Telkom's offer as a wage offer as its mandate is for an inflation-linked deal.
Telkom previously indicated its 6%-a-year offer, for the next three years, would be used to narrow the gap, but this would be at the unions' discretion. Inflation is 5.9%. The company then reversed that position, before putting it back on the table in the latest offer.
The salary disparity aspect will amount to a freeze in salaries for some members, and boils down to a new remuneration philosophy, Croucamp adds.
Telkom has indicated it will just unilaterally implement the deal and Solidarity will be getting legal advice to see if it has grounds for an interdict to prevent this, says Croucamp. It will also seek a mandate from its 2 000 members this week for a way forward and whether to strike, he says. "It's becoming a possibility to mandate on it."
Croucamp says the situation is becoming messier and he is not sure where it will end up. He says the union will ask the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration to issue a certificate of non-resolution.
CWU spokesman Dennis Morobe says the union is happy with the bulk of the offer and is now awaiting a way forward from Telkom as to its other issues.
Telkom did not respond to a request for comment, but has previously said it is committed to engaging with unions.
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