Trade union Solidarity has asked the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to intervene in a dispute with Telkom over possible retrenchments.
Solidarity last week accused the fixed-line giant of “unfairly retrenching 4 000 staff”, whose contracts expire in March next year.
Telkom announced at its results presentation last week that it will now embark on a major cost-cutting mission across the business, which includes cutting back on temporary and contract staff members.
The trade union says the company has not followed the consultative process and simply cut the staff members without proper notice. It has also accused Telkom of not paying out the severance packages promised to those employees.
Solidarity is also adamant the lay-offs have not been limited to the temporary staff. Telkom has slammed the union for the accusations, saying that, while it does employ 4 000 temporary workers through labour broking, it will not cut all of those members of staff.
service provided by these suppliers,” the company said in a statement.
Telkom went on to say that permanent staff members will not be affected by the reduction in brokered employees. The utility entered into an agreement with the unions earlier this year, which prevents it from retrenching permanent staff.
However, the agreement holds no stipulation on temporary and contract employees.
Telkom and two trade unions, Solidarity and the Communication Workers Union, met last week to discuss the matter, with Telkom agreeing to hold off on the cutting back of temporary workers until the end of December.
However, Solidarity is not pleased with the company's decision and says “the trade union will not accept it”. Solidarity spokesman Jaco Kleynhans says the union has appealed to the CCMA for help, because Telkom has not followed the correct legal practices.
He says since Telkom wants to suspend the contracts prematurely, a full Section 189 process must still be followed by law. “This is totally unacceptable and Telkom will now have to take responsibility for its unfair handling of these retrenchments,” Kleynhans explains.
Related story:
Telkom, labour agree on retrenchments
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