Telkom pay dispute ends
TELKOM and the two trade unions representing its workers finally reached agreement on Friday, successfully staving off more strike action this week.
Negotiations between the fixed-line operator, the Communications Workers Union and the South African Communications Union ended with a signed agreement for an 11.5percent wage increase backdated to April 2008 and another 0.5percent increase effective from October 1.
“An agreement was formally concluded between Telkom, CWU and SACU,” said Meshack Dlamini, executive director of employee relations at Telkom.
Tertia Smit, a senior analyst at market intelligence and advisory firm BMI TechKnowledge, said the three-day strike by Telkom workers last week cost the utility a week’s worth of production.
“Such strike actions could cause a backlog in installations and a general delay in repairs,” she said.
Gallant Roberts, CWU’s general secretary, said: “The company further agreed that this 11.5percent will be extended to all monetary values including medical aid and standby allowances.
“But we are not necessarily happy because we initially wanted an 11.6percent increase. But we will engage the company again towards the end of the year to discuss salary increases.”
Solidarity, on the other hand, last month accepted an average wage increase of 10.5percent for the 4000 workers it represents at Telkom.
Solidarity spokesman Jaco Kleynhans said the increase means the union’s members will receive an increase of between R852.26 and R1671.50 a month, depending on the job level of the member.
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