Two of the unions representing striking Telkom workers urged the parastatal on Tuesday to reissue an offer it retracted on Monday in order to overcome a deadlock in wage negotiations.
”We need to make it clear that there is no change in the unions’ stance as regards the offer that was put to us on Friday and then retracted.
”But we do need Telkom to put it on the table once more so that negotiations can resume,” said Jaco Kleynhans, spokesperson for the trade union Solidarity.
Solidarity and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) have been on a stayaway since Monday over Telkom’s profit-sharing scheme and wage increases.
”Once the offer is put back on the table we can negotiate it, go back to our members and receive a mandate from them as to what we can do next. But as things stand now, there is no offer on the table and absolutely no communication between us and Telkom,” said Kleynhans.
Solidarity on Monday said Telkom’s decision to withdraw the offer proved the company was not serious in its attempts to reach a settlement.
A third union representing Telkom workers, the South African Communications Union, accepted the offer last week.
An estimated 2 000 employees marched on Telkom’s headquarters in Pretoria on Monday to hand a list of grievances to deputy CEO Charlotte Mokoena.
In the memorandum, Solidarity and the CWU demand R50 000 a year per worker from the company’s profits. They also call for an 8,5% salary increase for general workers and a 7,5% increase for supervisory and specialist workers.
Management is offering 6,5%.
The unions allege that the spread of salaries in Telkom is skewed in favour of management. They claim R1,3-billion was spent on 2 300 managers between April and September last year, while R1,8-billion was spent on the salaries of 23 500 workers over the same period.
Members of the striking unions were expected conduct a go-slow and not do overtime on their return to work on Wednesday. — Sapa