Vodacom call centre employees are seeing red now that the company is outsourcing the function.
With placards bearing the words “Vodacom exploiting call centre workers” they are protesting on Commissioner street outside the building of the call centre service provider, Fusion Outsourcing.
The workers say that Vodacom and Fusion have breached section 197 of the Labour Relations Act which states that;
“…the new employer is automatically substituted in the place of the old employer in respect of all contracts of employment in existence immediately before the date of transfer… all the rights and obligations between the old employer and an employee at the time of the transfer continue in force as if they had been rights and obligations between the new employer and the employee…”
A protester who did not want to be named said that, since becoming Fusion employees on August 1, Vodacom employees have lost most of their benefits.
He said their airtime allowance has been taken away; they no longer have internet access; that transport is no longer provided for those working nightshift which ends at midnight; and, most importantly, that wages are now lower.
Aubrey Tshabalala, Deputy Chairman of the Communications Workers Union said this had confirmed the union's suspicions of Vodacom's plan to cut labour costs.
“Vodacom is using this (outsourcing) tactic to shave jobs and erode benefits in general… even though they have denied it in the media,” he said.
Vodacom spokesperson, Richard Borman said that the people protesting were not Vodacom employees.
“…temporary employees who were not directly employed by Vodacom were offered permanent positions with specialist call centre providers (like Fusion). There were no changes to their remuneration and benefits. The persons demonstrating today are not Vodacom employees - they work in the Fusion call centre,” said Boorman.
The Managing Director of Fusion, Johann Kunz said the company had taken 10 employees who had previously worked (on a contract basis) for Vodacom and placed them in permanent positions.
“Only five of those that are protesting work for Fusion… the rest work for other call canters... Section 197 does not apply in this instance because those staff are not permanent staff… The staff that work for my company are far better off (than the rest that are protesting,” he said.
