Telkom employees that were transferred to Barloworld Logistics earlier this year as part of Telkom's section 197 business transfer process could be facing their second restructuring in less than six months.
This according to trade union Solidarity which says Barloworld Logistics made their intentions known in a presentation to trade unions, indicating that it was planning to reduce its work premises from 35 to 17.
"This would mean that about 112 former Telkom employees that had been transferred to Barloworld earlier this year, would have to undergo a second restructuring process this year," says Solidarity in a statement.
"We believe that during the initial section 197 process, Telkom should have foreseen the possibility that Barloworld would reduce its number of work premises," according to Marius Croucamp, head of Solidarity's communication industry.
He says Barloworld rented certain work premises from Telkom and as a result of Telkom selling these premises Barloworld has to reduce its number of premises as well.
Croucamp says employees have been given the choice to transfer to Barloworld's premises in Boksburg. If they do not want to move to Boksburg, they will have the opportunity to apply for 16 vacant positions in other provinces including the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal.
"The reality is that there will once again be an upheaval in the lives of these employees because their place of work will change. In almost all the cases, the employees and their families will have to relocate. If they do not want to relocate, and if they are not appointed in one of the other 16 available positions at one of the other work premises, the employees will be able to apply for voluntary severance packages," says Croucamp.
"We are furthermore concerned about the fact that the Barloworld branch in Boksburg might now have too many employees and that there will ultimately be further retrenchments.
"We shall consider taking legal action against the company if we are not satisfied with the outcome of the process," warns Croucamp.
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