Under the rule of law graduate Sipho Maseko, the Telkom we know or knew is in a state of metamorphosis. The stakes are higher and the game is changing. The external transformation is mirrored by a stirring internally. Operational changes are under way and Telkom’s labour movement is not exempt from the cacophony.
Union leaders are projecting more frustration with the fixed-line company’s management than previously. The threat of labour unrest is palpable.
Monday’s last-ditch attempt at resolving wage negotiation differences between the trade unions and the company around the table at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) was fruitless.
The only factor preventing the commissioner from issuing a certificate to strike was that one of the unions had failed to consult its members on Telkom’s latest wage offer last week, according to Karriem Abrahams, the spokesman for the SA Communications Union, which has the smallest representation at Telkom.
Communication Workers Union and trade union Solidarity are the two largest bodies representing workers’ interests.
“It’s never been like this. Usually the company would stick to their guns. This is the first year that the proposal has changed three times,” Abrahams said.
According to him, Telkom, which had revised its initial offer of an increase of 1 percent in salaries for all employees represented by the bargaining unit, had progressively increased the proposal to 6 percent. It was not the amount the unions are disputing but “it is the manner in which they want to use the 6 percent. They are taking away from Peter to give to Paul,” he added.
Wage increases should have been implemented on April 1. The parties will meet next on July 4, when the CCMA expected all unions to have consulted their members. Spokesmen for the other two unions were not available for comment.
African expansion
South African businesses that plan to do business elsewhere in Africa must learn to leave the arrogance at home and be streetwise and form partnerships with people in those countries.
These were some of the discussion points that came out from the Standard Bank Meeting of the Minds discussions on advantages and risks in trading in Africa.
The panelists – who included business leaders such as Guy Lundy, Dianna Games, Jeff McCarthy and Akash Singh – agreed that Africa was full of possibility, however, all four got stuck on the question about corruption at our continent’s border posts. It looked like unlawfulness and bribery was the order of the day if one has to get goods through the border posts to the rest of the continent by road transportation. This was not the only challenge.
Games reminded the business people in the room that logistics, including hotels and regulatory risks, were still some of the challenges facing the foreign businesses.
Despite some of these challenges, Africa as a whole promised a brighter and profitable future for business people. Lundy encouraged the business people to take a walk in the street of these countries, to learn a bit of the local language and leave arrogance at home.
Yes the panelists, without mentioning names, agreed that some of the South African businesses doing business elsewhere in Africa displayed arrogance.
On the sides of the conference, one businessman shared his funeral services trade in countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique. The businessman mentioned how the growth of middle class in some of these countries had positively impacted on his business growth, with about 40 percent of his company’s turnover coming from outside of South Africa.
If funeral supplies companies are doing so well in these parts of the continent, what will then stop the big corporations such as the cellular networks, clothing and food retailers, property and construction companies from doing well?
Retail competition
A visit to Pietermaritz Street in the town of Pietermaritzburg will give you a picture of what retail store competition is about. On a normal Wednesday, I counted six food and consumer goods supermarkets on the same street.
The street, which is abuzz with hawkers, spaza owners and supermarkets, is next to a busy taxi rank and a bus station. As full trolleys leave the stores, trolley pushers, who wait outside the stores, are there to give assistance to the taxi stations, at a price of course. On the same street, there is a Boxer Superstore, which belongs to Pick n Pay; a Rhino Cash & Carry owned by Massmart; a Siyaya supermarket and a Save You store which both belong to Unitrade Management Services (UMS); and up the road there is a Shoprite.
All these stores have one thing in common, they serve the low-income earners who travel by public transport and who receive a social grant.
Such consumers, according to UMS chief executive Jad Pereira, come to this part of town once if not twice a month.
“The longest days are the grant pay-out days, the queues get very long and trading begins much earlier, explained a Siyaya store owner, Shabeer Noorgat. At the entrance of most of the stores, customers are greeted with a necessities bulk special that consists of maize meal, rice, cooking oil and other necessities.
The Siyaya and Save You stores have similar patterns, the retail part where everyday customers shop and a wholesale part where spaza shop owners buy. One shopper stocks up on her spaza shop merchandise and quickly goes to the retail part of the store for her personal cosmetics. As Pereira said, the shoppers could afford to come to this part of town once a month.
Beside the competition on prices, stores in this street compete on branding – all colours from green, blue to red.
Edited by Peter DeIonno. With contributions from Asha Speckman and Nompumelelo Magwaza.