This afternoon, months of wage negotiations were brought to an end with the signing of a three-year wage deal between Telkom and the Communication Workers Union (CWU).
The deal aims to sort out a historical salary disparity. The increase will result in the wage bill gaining 6.8% a year, and the cumulative increase will be spread around to close wage gaps, resulting in some staff gaining an increase of more than 6%, and others less than that.
Telkom has agreed to engage with unions if inflation moves to higher than 7.5% and remains there for six consecutive months. Inflation is currently 5.5%.
Meshack Dlamini, group executive for employee relations, says the equitable deal will benefit 16 800 staff and only 1 719 employees will not receive an increase for the next three years, but rather once-off payments.
CWU is the largest organised labour at Telkom, representing 38% of all staff, followed by the South African Communications Union (SACU) and then Solidarity, which combined have 35%. Neither SACU nor Solidarity were present to address this afternoon's briefing.
'Fair'
Dlamini, who was Telkom's lead negotiator, says the deal is "fair and reasonable" to all staff and it applies across the board. SACU, which had been opposed to the offer as it amounted to a wage freeze for its members, is expected to sign the deal next week, says Telkom.
Telkom is allowing SACU and Solidarity time to complete their balloting processes, says Dlamini.
CEO Sipho Maseko says the process has been a long road and negotiations are never easy, especially in a difficult financial environment and taking Telkom's financial situation into account. He says Telkom and CWU are committed to ensuring Telkom "returns to its glorious past".
Cecil Mokhantso, CWU president, says the agreement provides for a way forward and it is not in the union's interests to see Telkom fail.
Both SACU and Solidarity have been mandating for a strike, and while SACU's members have until tomorrow to revert, and Solidarity was on Tuesday balloting its members to get a mandate to strike after Telkom's offer was rejected, according to its Twitter account.
SACU and Solidarity were unhappy with the offer, which they argue, amounts to a wage freeze. The two smaller unions say that, while the disparity should be resolved, this should not come out of the wage hike budget.
The freeze is a wage cut in real terms, as people will be held to the same level for three years, Solidarity spokesman Marius Croucamp has said. In year one, 60% of staff will get a real increase, which drops to 40% and then 30% in the final year, he explained.
SACU president Michael Hare has said the effective wage freeze, which will see members losing out in terms of wages in real terms, has angered staff. Some 13 998 of Telkom's bargaining unit employees were unionised as at 30 September 2012.
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