Telkom will not start offering voluntary severance and early retirement packages from Monday following a court interdict granted to three unions on Sunday.
However, spokesperson Ravin Maharaj said the Sunday night sitting of the Labour Court, in Braamfontein, had also granted the telecommunications giant the right to appeal against the judgement.
Maharaj and Dirk Hermann, spokesperson for one of the unions, Solidarity, said that the court had ordered that Telkom first go through proper consultation with the unions, and should explain the reasons for the retrenchments.
Solidarity, the SA Communication Union and the Communication Workers Union have been trying to stop Telkom’s plans to go ahead with the planned retrenchment of about 4 100 workers over the next three years.
Maharaj said: ”We will continue to engage constructively with organised labour on the process.”
Hermann called the court ruling ”a victory for workers at Telkom and for fairness”.
In its reaction, the Freedom Front Plus congratulated the unions on their success.
Telkom was criticised earlier for its decision to retrench the workers despite an annual profit of R4,5-billion.
”Of particular concern from a political point of view, is the fact that the South African government is still the majority shareholder in Telkom,” said FF+ labour spokesperson Willie Spies.
”Media reports suggested earlier that Telkom were acting on instructions from government to retrench people in order to maximise profits. This is not in line with the ANC ‘s so-called peoples’ contract to fight poverty and create jobs. The trade union Solidarity mentioned in an earlier report that current trends rather point at an urge to fight jobs and create poverty”.
Spies said the FF+ would ask government to use its influence as majority shareholder in Telkom to convince the company not to proceed with its intended appeal against the Labour Court ruling. – Sapa