The three unions opposing Telkom`s planned retrenchments over the next three years have enlisted the help of London-based Web site Labour Start to take the campaign global.
The unions, Solidarity, Communication Workers Union (CWU) and the SA Communication Union (SACU) claimed yesterday that they expect to muster more than 30 000 activists and trade union members in a worldwide campaign against Telkom.
This follows the monopoly`s announcement earlier this year that it planned 4 181 job cuts over the course of the next three years, despite the fact that the company recently announced record profits.
The Labour Start Web site, with 18 000 subscribers, has an online protest note which it invites visitors to send to Telkom CEO Sizwe Nxasana, with the site having already recorded nearly 1 000 e-mails protesting the job cuts.
According to Solidarity, it will also use its weekly electronic newsletter, Soldeer, to call on its 7 000 members do the same, while CWU and SACU plan to mobilise thousands of members by means of electronic mail.
It has also been reported that links to the Labour Start campaign will be provided on several hundred trade union Web sites around the world.
The message to Nxasana on the Web site highlights the fact that the organisation recorded a profit of R4.5 billion during the last financial year, that Nxasana was paid bonuses amounting to R11.1 million while the other directors received a total of R47 million.
It also points out that Telkom has retrenched 30 000 workers since 1997, despite the fact that the company still has enormous growth potential and the country has an existing unemployment rate of 42%.
"Imagine that a company that employs more than 60 000 workers decides to fire half of them, despite the country having an unemployment rate of over 40%," says CWU spokesman Charley Lewis.
"That`s pretty bad, but imagine if that same company was making huge profits and paying its managers and directors massive bonuses. It`s enough to make your blood boil."
Telkom says it will continue to meet with the trade unions, under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, to discuss the planned retrenchments.
The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 4 September, with a follow up meeting pencilled in for 13 September.
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