Both Solidarity and the Communication Workers Union have declared wage disputes with Telkom, following the third round of negotiations that took place on Friday.
According to a statement from Solidarity, Telkom has indicated that it will impose a two-year moratorium on retrenchments, provided that trade unions will accept a wage increase of 4.5%.
Solidarity says this amounts to extortion, since employees “now have to choose between job security and a liveable salary”.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) claims Telkom appears to have “no intention at all to engage with the unions”.
In response, Telkom has said it maintains the status quo of the initial offer it tabled to organised labour.
“While parties have acknowledged a deadlock, a dispute has not yet been formally lodged,” says Telkom, adding that discussions with organised labour will continue.
In the budget
During the first round of wage negotiations, Solidarity demanded that Telkom should, in addition to an across-the-board two-year wage increase, also retrospectively from 1 April impose a two-year moratorium on retrenchments.
Spokesperson for Solidarity Marius Croucamp claims there is room in Telkom's salary budget, following the 1 877 voluntary severance packages it approved earlier this year.
The trade union maintains that Telkom not only has room in its salary budget for a wage increase of between 8% and 10%, but that it should also compensate its remaining personnel for their scarce skills.
“Almost 9% of Telkom's total labour force accepted voluntary severance packages. Of the 1 877 employees who took voluntary severance packages, 1 650 already vacated their positions in March. The rest left at the end of April,” says Croucamp.
“Shortly after, Telkom realised that it has now come up against a substantial skills shortage and several of those who already vacated their positions were lured back with temporary contracts to transfer their skills to the remaining personnel.”
Outsourcing responsibilities
Secretary-general of the CWU Gallant Roberts says: “We believe that they are outsourcing engagement, and outsourcing their responsibilities to third parties.”
Roberts adds that Telkom has shown its unwillingness to engage by bringing the same unchanged offer of a 4.5% increase to the table.
“As the leadership of the CWU, we are very concerned and we will be convening a meeting with our membership with regard to what steps to take to put more pressure on Telkom.
“We will be embarking on the necessary internal mechanisms to deal with the dispute, and if our efforts are not successful, we will take up the issue with the CCMA,” concludes Roberts.
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