South Africa’s part state-owned operator Telkom is to begin a period of consultation with its staff regarding planned retrenchments as of Monday, turning to an external facilitator to help with the discussions.
HumanIPO reported in May Telkom announced it was embarking on consultations with a view to cutting its management staff by 25 per cent over the coming three years, amidst restructuring plans aimed at cutting costs reportedly by ZAR1 billion (US$93.5 million) annually over the next five years.
The plans were met with allegations by trade union Solidarity of racially motivated retrenchments, while two further unions pledged to take Telkom to court over the plans.
Telkom today said it has agreed to a period of further consultation with organised labour regarding the operator’s restructuring plans including planned retrenchments.
The consultations are to begin on Monday, and will occur through an external, independent facilitator, Telkom said.
“This consultation is a continuation of the dialogue that the Company has had with staff and organised labour over the past few months regarding its restructuring.
“Telkom has agreed to this process to ensure that all stakeholder views are considered and factored into the restructuring process.”
The operator said it would not make any further announcements regarding the forthcoming restructuring or retrenchments until the series of consultation meetings is concluded.
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