Telkom pay dispute
LESS than two months after revised wage deals were signed in August between Telkom and three unions, the unions say Telkom is not honouring the wage agreements.
According to the agreements, Telkom was supposed to pay an increase of 11 percent across the board, but the Communications Workers Union, South African Communications Union, and Solidarity say some employees have received less than 11percent.
This was reflected in the August salary payments.
Jaco Kleynhans, spokesman for Solidarity, said: “Some of our members didn’t receive the agreed 11percent increase in the past month. The increase amount that was paid varies from one worker to the other.
‘‘Solidarity declared the dispute with Telkom because of a discrepancy over the payment of wage increases that surfaced in the amended wage agreement.”
CWU and Sacu have teamed up against Telkom and opened a case at the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration on the same grounds.
“We have made a joint referral to the CCMA with regard to interpretation of the Telkom wage agreement,” said Richard Poulton, CWU’s national treasurer.
“The problem might be caused by the fact that in the past we used to have an average increase, which meant that the amount would vary depending on the income of the member,” he said.
By unions’ observation, Telkom’s interpretation of the agreement excludes numerous employees from this increase or pays them only a fraction of the increase agreed on, according to their salary scale.
“Solidarity maintains that the increase applies to all employees in the bargaining unit,” said Kleynhans.
Attempts to get comment from Telkom were unsuccessful because, according to its media relations department, ‘‘management staff members were in meetings”.
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