Business
Telkom South Africa job cuts on hold after court order
South African fixed-line operator Telkom, has been ordered to abandon plans to retrench thousands of workers.
The order by the Johannesburg Labor Court was hailed as a victory for workers while Telkom said it was “disappointed” by the judgment.
Three unions at Telkom, namely, Solidarity, the Communications Workers Union and the South African Communications Union approached the Labor Court to argue that
Telkom had not fully consulted workers on the planned job cuts.
However, Telkom said it would continue with its restructuring exercise despite the court setback.
“Once the dispute is resolved we will continue with the restructuring and would now go back to the table with unions to share more information,” the company said.
The telecommunications giant, once the lone operator in South Africa, plans to retrench and offer voluntary severance packages to over 4000 workers and place a further 3000 with different outsourcing companies.
Telkom argued that its core fixed line business has not been competitive due to technological advances. Its business includes satellite, data, voice, internet, network solutions and LAN provisioning.
Telkom operates in more than 38 countries across Africa and is a semi-privatized, with the State holding a 39 percent stake.
The unions declared a dispute with Telkom in June over the planned retrenchments.
The dispute centers around different interpretations of a restructuring forum between Telkom and unions and what decision-making powers it has.
They launched a section 189 process which deals with retrenchments. Telkom had argued that a restructuring forum was a pure information forum and not a decision making one.
