South African trade union Solidarity has accused part state-owned operator Telkom of racially motivated retrenchment plans, as well as saying the operator lacks a long term strategy for achieving financial stability.
HumanIPO reported in April Telkom intends to cut ZAR1billion (US$96 million) in costs annually for the next five years, inevitably involving job cuts, the operator currently being in the process of implementing a range of measures to regain financial viability.
Solidarity today criticised the operator for not having a clearly defined strategy to stabilise its finances, saying the union has been notified of imminent restructuring plans at Telkom which may include retrenchments, but has not received any details as to what will be restructured.
“It is obvious that Telkom has to become financially viable again, but that will be impossible without a proper long-term strategy,” said Marius Croucamp, Solidarity’s head of industry.
“This long-term strategy has to be formulated in collaboration with management staff – it should not be shrouded in secrecy, or even be absent, as is currently the case. Solidarity will urgently request the newly proposed organisational structure from Telkom in order to evaluate it for fairness and prudence.”
The union said Telkom’s lack of strategy geared at achieving strong financials is evident in the fact the operator places more weight in considering employees’ skin colour, than their performance.
“Apparently, Telkom hopes to reduce its number of white employees by means of the restructuring process,” Croucamp said.
“This is the only conclusion that we can come to, based on the fact that so-called employment equity provisions forms one of the criteria to be applied in determining retrenchments.”
Employment equity in South Africa refers to the post-apartheid era policy requiring employers to hire individuals previously disadvantaged on grounds of race, gender or disability; although the requirement does not require anyone to be fired.
The Solidarity trade union is majority-comprised of white Afrikaans members.
“If any of our members are affected by this provision, we will not hesitate to fight it on the highest levels,” Croucamp said.
