Telkom, unions sign agreement

By Rodney Weidemann for Telkom

Johannesburg, 13 Sep 2004

On the final day of negotiations, Telkom and its three communication unions have reached an agreement regarding the monopoly`s proposed job cuts.

Telkom is hoping to reduce its staff by some 1 381 jobs by the end of this year, and had sought to offer employees the option of voluntary retrenchment or early retirement, or for those whose jobs became redundant, the opportunity to be placed with Telkom`s Agency for Career Opportunities for up to 12 months with full pay and benefits, while awaiting redeployment or reskilling.

The agreement was signed between Telkom, the Communication Workers Union, SA Communication Union and Solidarity, and allows the company continue with its original plan, which will see it begin to offer voluntary retrenchment packages as of tomorrow.

According to Oupa Magashula, Telkom`s group executive for human resources, the agreement was reached thanks to the fact that all parties involved worked really hard and engaged each other constructively.

"We are hoping to see a similar result to our last series of retrenchments, in which around 96% of the jobs we wished to shed were achieved through voluntary retrenchment or the redeployment option."

"We nonetheless approach any job cuts from a sensitive position and feel that the latest liberalisation within the telecoms market will present new opportunities for redeployment."

He says that as part of the agreement with the unions, there will be a national task team to oversee the retrenchments process, which will have members of all three unions on board.

"This is an advantage to both us and the unions, as it allows us to remain close to the unions and it helps to keep the communication channels open," says Magashula.

Trade union Solidarity claims that despite signing the agreement, there are still several unresolved disputes between the unions and the monopoly, but that the three unions are still discussing how to approach these issues and will hold a news conference tomorrow to announce their stance.