Johannesburg | Monday
TELKOM has notified 367 Telkom employees in ”redundant or duplicated positions” that they have until the end of March to apply for voluntary severance packages.
The announcement has angered union representatives, who say Telkom is breaching the Job Security and Retrenchment Framework Agreement, signed on January 24, 2002.
”After consulting with organised labour, Telkom today briefed employees in affected positions of their options,” Telkom representative Andrew Weldrick said on Monday.
Affected staff members who fail to apply for the voluntary severance packages face forced retrenchment from 1 April 2002.
Communication Workers Union representative Sizwe Matshikiza said that Telkom was making a serious mistake.
”These are grounds to declare a dispute. They have an obligation not to forcibly retrench until the matter has been adequately discussed at union level.”
He said that according to the terms of the agreement signed in January, Telkom would look at various options — including a reduction of working hours — before resorting to forced retrenchments.
In his statement, Weldrick said Telkom was in the second phase of its ongoing staff optimisation programme, and that thus far 1480 out of a total of 2106 employees had elected to accept the voluntary packages.
Telkom’s employee relations representative George Nkadimeng said the company had plans in place to assist affected staff members who wanted to start their own small businesses, retire in financial security or prepare for alternative employment.
Matshikiza said the CWU discouraged its members from accepting such offers.
”These packages look attractive, but ultimately all they do is add to the poverty in our country,” he said.
Weldrick said packages for non-unionised employees and members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) would be paid in accordance with the Job Security and Retrenchment Framework Agreement signed in January 2002.
However, he said, should the Alliance of Telkom Unions (ATU) fail to reach a similar agreement with Telkom by 31 March 2002, its members’ retrenchment packages would be calculated as per the provisions of Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act. – Sapa