Trade Union, Solidarity, has stated that Telkom has recently suspended its upcoming retrenchment process. The union stated that the suspension is due to the flawed processes undertaken by Telkom.
According to the trade union, Telkom did not gather sufficient input from unions regarding its retrenchment plans. Solidarity met with Telkom on 17 July 2014, and reached a settlement which will be taken to court next week to be made an order of the Labour Court. This is according to an article published by businesstech.co.za.
The union said that an external facilitator has been appointed to drive the new process.
Businesstech.co.za also revealed that according to a letter from Telkom on 16 July 2014 the new facilitated process, which will be led by Charles Nupen, will address the following issues:
1. The proposed organisational structures across all business units;
2. The selection criteria, including the placement process of staff;
3. Voluntary severance packages and any further alternatives which the unions may wish to propose;
4. The severance packages;
5. The timing of the proposed retrenchments;
6. Other matters which the parties agree on.
New appointments at Telkom will also be put on hold until the new process has been completed, Solidarity said. The union said that it expects the new proceedings to push back retrenchments by up to two months.
In the beginning of July 2014, trade union Solidarity and the South African Communications Union (Sacu) launched a campaign against Telkom, accusing the group of attempting to carry out large-scale retrenchments where race was to be used as a criteria. Furthermore, Solidarity stated that it has already submitted documentation to the Labour Court to put a stop to Telkom’s alleged race-based retrenchments.
