The Communication Workers Union will embark on mass action against Telkom’s imminent retrenchments, it said on Wednesday.
“We shall use anything at our disposal, including but not limited to unleashing the organised might of our members through rolling mass action to register our dissatisfaction, and force the hand of an irresponsible, inconsiderate and intransigent Telkom management,” the union said in a statement.
The union called on Telkom to withdraw all retrenchment notices sent to affected workers.
“Unilateral decision making by Telkom management from their air conditioned ivory towers can no longer be tolerated.”
Telkom said consultations with unions commenced on Monday to inform them of its proposal to restructure four key areas of the business.
“The areas under review are certain Telkom Direct stores, existing Telkom call centres, IT legacy billing systems internal printing and Telkom’s supply chain and properties division,” the organisation said in a statement.
Following consultations with unions, the company communicated the developments to affected staff, it said.
As an employer, Telkom had a right and obligation to inform staff of such developments.
“Communication in this regard should not be misrepresented as consultation, happening outside of the agreed upon process. Telkom will therefore not be withdrawing the communication that has been forwarded to staff.”
On Tuesday, union Solidarity said notices it received from Telkom were filled with uncertainties and did not contain detail concerning the number of workers who would be affected.
“Solidarity earlier received inside information that the entire process could ultimately affect as many as 10 000 workers. We are still concerned about these rumours, especially since Telkom is keeping certain details from us,” the union said at the time. — Sapa
