The labour court in Johannesburg has postponed labour union Solidarity’s urgent application to stop retrenchments at Telkom to 8 July for judgement.
The union wants the court to issue it with an interdict blocking Telkom from retrenching 4400 workers until all remedies have been collectively explored.
The majority state owned telecommunications company has announced its staff reduction strategy which would see 4400 workers offered early retirement packages and voluntary severance packages.
However the unions declared a dispute when the company stuck to these plans and ignored their inputs in a retrenchment forum established to deal with the matter.
Telkom attorney, Puke Maserumule argued the unions had abandoned that process by launching the dispute in court. “We are not indifferent and insensitive to the fact that the process entails job losses. What we are saying is what else do we do? We still need to restructure the company,” he said.
But unconvinced unions believe the company can still avoid job cuts if thorough consultations were held and a social plan put in place for the worst case scenario when jobs cannot be saved.
Labour Bureau