Vodacom, CWU shake hands

By Candice Jones, ITWeb online telecoms editor

Johannesburg, 03 Aug 2007

After months of raging disputes, Vodacom and the Communications Workers Union have finally reached an agreement.

The CWU has been involved in ongoing protest action, since February, against its non-recognition as a representative body within Vodacom.

The Department of Communications was mandated in April to investigate whether the union had reached the 30% threshold required for recognition, as Vodacom asserted it represented only 9.8% of its employees.

It is unclear whether this audit has been completed. According to a statement by Vodacom, however, the union and the company have come to an agreement on exactly how many members are represented by the CWU.

Last week the union agreed to suspend strike action pending the outcome of discussions, which were mediated by Charles Nupen, board member of Tokiso Dispute Settlement. Nupen was also involved in the resolution of the recent public sector strike.

Vodacom has released the terms of the agreement struck yesterday afternoon:

The "lock out" and the strike between Vodacom and the CWU has been terminated, with striking workers tendering their services at normal starting time on or before 7 August 2007.

The current number of union members has been agreed by the parties as representing less than 15% of 4 202 permanent Vodacom employees on 30 June 2007.

In future, only members whose union membership is paid as a deduction from the Vodacom payroll will be recognised as union members.

For the purposes of determining union representation, Vodacom's workforce will comprise all employees except for management levels 1, 2 and 3. These management levels comprised 146 employees on 30 June 2007. This would still give the CWU less than 15% representation of the remaining workforce as of 30 June 2007.

All employees who went on strike will receive no pay or benefits for the entire period that they were on strike.

Union members can access demarcated areas on Vodacom premises, which have more than 50 union members, after hours under strict guidelines subject to at least two days' notice being given.

When the union reaches 30% membership, it will be allowed two work representatives who will each receive an extra two days' paid leave per annum for union training.

Once the union represents more than 50% of employees, it will enjoy full collective bargaining rights in terms of the Labour Relations Act.

The CWU will withdraw its current dispute in regard to wages.

Vodacom will withdraw its Section 24 application currently pending.

The CWU has arranged a press conference for today and as such was unavailable for direct comment on the resolution at the time of publication.