Telkom reopens retrenchment packages

Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko has invited all employees to apply for voluntary severance and voluntary early retirement packages, despite refusal from union leaders to accept them.

Telkom announced in June that it plans to cut 4,400 jobs through these packages.

Subsequently, the company entered into talks with unions, including Solidarity, which later fell through and went the Labour Court.

The court ultimately ruled in favour of the unions.

The judge ordered that Telkom withdraw the Section 189 notices, issued in respect of the technology and learning divisions, pending the resolution of a dispute related to information sharing.

Following that interdict, Telkom withdrew the entire Section 189 process and then offered the packages to non-unionised workers the following week.

Maseko noted in an email to employees that 96.3% of all applications for packages for non-unionised workers have been approved.

Telkom met with organised labour on Tuesday (21 July) to try and secure approval to allow unionised employees to access the invitation to apply for the packages, but this was again refused by unions.

According to Maseko, there have been hundreds of applications from unionised employees to take the packages.

“We cannot ignore them,” he said.

“We believe that organised labour’s refusal to allow the invitation to be extended to union members is unreasonable, unfair and highly prejudicial to those union members.”

Maseko said that it is for that reason that the company has opened up applications for packages to all of its employees – unionised or not.

Republished with permission from BusinessTech

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