Fixed and mobile operator Telkom told journalists in August that it was resuming its staff restructuring plans and layoffs, which had been halted while negotiations with unions were underway. Now, the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) said that some staff members at Telkom were issued with retrenchment letters on Friday.
But the union claims that Telkom has retrenched more people than it had initially said it needed to.
“This was surprising to us as Telkom had reported that 302 management staff had taken voluntary severance packages and others had taken voluntary retirement packages. The target that Telkom wanted to achieve was 223, which meant that with 302 having been allowed to exit through severance packages they had over- achieved their target of 223…” the union said in press statement.
Even though Telkom sent out retrenchment notices, CWU claims that Telkom still has vacancies available for open positions.
“Secondly, there were still 168 vacancies available, yet Telkom had issued these 105 managers with letters of forceful retrenchment.”
Doing a quick search on industry staff recruitment site Bizcommunity, it reveals that there are at least eight different categories of jobs being made available listed between 25th September and 8th October. These listings range from call centre agents to managers for SME sales, and there is one position open for a Senior Specialist of BI & Customer Analytics.
According to Telkom, the company has “a commitment to consult and engage with all our labour representatives, at the appropriate and necessary junctures. Telkom has begun feedback discussions with organised labour, including the CWU,” it told SAPA.
“These discussions are ongoing and it would not be appropriate to discuss any potential content, prior to the conclusion of those discussions.”
[Source- SAPA]
