Telkom wage offer ridiculous, says union

By Damaria Senne for Telkom
Johannesburg, 11 Apr 2006

Telkom and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) will meet today in an effort to resolve a protracted wage dispute, following the union`s rejection of what it describes as a "ridiculous" offer.

The dispute stems from the way Telkom manages its profit-sharing scheme, as well as other employee compensation issues. Following four months of negotiations, CWU and Solidarity resorted to strike action, during which 5 000 union members marched to Telkom`s head office.

Negotiations have also been plagued with threats of legal action, Telkom withdrawing its revised offer and CWU threatening to barricade Telkom`s premises.

Charlotte Mokoena, Telkom`s group executive of human resources, says the revised wage offer improves profit-sharing for the lowest paid employees from an initial 256% to over 400%. The South African Communications Union accepted the offer immediately and Solidarity held out until 54% of its members declared they would accept the offer.

The offer was initially valid until 5 April; however, a Telkom spokesperson confirms the fixed-line operator subsequently extended the deadline for the offer to expire today.

CWU remains unimpressed with the revised wage offer. "CWU is the only union at Telkom that has not yet accepted the ridiculous offer," says Mfanafuthi Sithebe, CWU head of communications.

The union demands that all employees, including managers, receive a profit-share of R30 000 in the first year.

The union further demands a 10% increase in profit-sharing in the second year, which it will accept on condition Telkom agree to compensate staff who were paid unequal salaries for loss of income since 1998.