Trade union Solidarity has claimed a jobs bloodbath is looming at Telkom after the operator on Tuesday briefed it about its restructuring and retrenchment plans.
“At an information session in Olifantsfontein today, the telecommunications giant announced its plans to get rid of an additional approximately 7 800 employees within two months,” Solidarity said in a statement.
“Telkom’s plans include cutting its workforce by 4 400 through voluntary severance packages and voluntary early retirement packages,” it said in the statement.
“If this new target is not met, forced retrenchments will follow in July to attain the desired number. Another 3 400 permanent employees [and] contract workers will be transferred to other companies. This is in addition to the 1 170 employees that have already been transferred through section 197 business transfer processes as several business portfolios within the company had already been outsourced.”
Solidarity’s head of the communications industry segment Marius Croucamp said the union warned back in February that big job cuts were looming.
“We have been pressurising (sic) Telkom since the beginning of this year to come clean regarding the number of people that will be affected and we are still questioning whether this drastic action will put the company on a sustainable path,” Croucamp said.
“If Telkom carries on in this vein, an empty shell is all that will remain of the company, and the inadequate service delivery that we are already experiencing will worsen as it will actually be the skilled employees that will be deterred by this major uncertainty.”
On Monday, TechCentral reported that a dramatic restructuring of Telkom’s business was on the cards. The planned changes, to be implemented over no more than five years, would lead to fundamental changes in the way Telkom did business.
It said it was reviewing its operating model, including looking at a “deep functional separation” between its wholesale and retail businesses.
The changes looked set to have a big impact on Telkom’s workforce, which many analysts say remains too big next to rival firms.
The company employs about 20 000 people, many of them in its field services operation, which looks after last-mile network maintenance, among other things.
“We must have a highly efficient and cost-effective workforce,” Telkom said on Monday. “Within our workforce there are significant opportunities to create a highly skilled and productive team by ensuring that employees have the right skills and capabilities to support the changing business. Much like most telecoms operators globally, we must move towards a leaner and more productive workforce.”
It says its aim was to achieve a cost-to-revenue ratio of 25% in the next four years. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media
