Two labour movements signed a coalition agreement to represent Telkom workers in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Solidarity and the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) announced they will represent Telkom workers jointly.
”It is a stepping stone in realising a vision to have one union representative for our members,” said Karthi Pillay, CWU deputy president.
The unions said the coalition will represent a clear majority in Telkom and fight racial divisions among the workers.
”The time has come for Telkom to stop playing racial divide,” said Pillay.
Solidarity’s acting CEO, Piet du Plooy, said the coalition will assist them to focus on serving their members.
”When there are two unions in a workplace, they jockey around for position. They fight to strengthen their own position and the members are not served. Together we will become a strong entity and we will have more bargaining power,” said Du Plooy.
The unions have vowed to prevent retrenchments at Telkom and close the wage gap between workers.
”One job loss is one too many. Enough is enough,” said Pillay.
”We need a very strong union at Telkom so that we will not fear to stand against management and secure jobs for workers,” said Solidarity’s Abraham van Wyk.
The unions have notified Telkom about the coalition and integrated their demands.
Among their demands are equal pay, equal work and a 12% increase for communication workers and 9% for supervisory workers.
”Telkom made massive profits and some people were rewarded, but not the workers. We say workers want some compensation,” said Van Wyk. — Sapa