Hundreds of Telkom workers are expected to take part in protests on Thursday against planned retrenchments at the company, the Solidarity trade union said.
Employees at the Telkom’s head office are expected to present the company’s management with a petition signed by thousands of Telkom workers countrywide, the union said in a statement on Wednesday.
”Handing over the petition is Solidarity’s first step in the mobilisation of Telkom workers against the dismissal of 4 181 people over the next three years. The latest Telkom retrenchments come after the company has already reduced its staff from 61 237 in 1999 to 31 624 today,” Solidarity added.
”The campaign will also include a commission of enquiry, mobilisation of the general public and possible court action.”
Amendments to the Labour Relations Act enable a trade union to test the reasonableness of an employer’s economic motivations for retrenching staff. Reasonableness is measured by community norms.
Solidarity said they also planned to mobilise the public and Telkom customers.
”A large proportion of the country’s population may be affected by the lay-offs, since a reduction in staff may well further compromise Telkom’s service delivery. The accent will be on the effect of staff cuts on service delivery and the fact that the cost of telephone services has outstripped the inflation rate for the past four years.”
The fact that Telkom has a social responsibility towards its workers and the communities in which they lived would also be emphasised.
The three recognised trade unions at Telkom are Solidarity, the Communication Workers Union and the South African Communications Union. Solidarity and Sacu are recognised by Telkom as the Alliance of Telkom Unions. – Sapa