Cape Town - More than 300 top managers in the City of Cape Town could face the axe as part of the city's new Organisation Development and Transformation Plan (ODTP) adopted by the council last month.
The Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (IMATU) has slammed the city for serving Section 189 notices in terms of the Labour Relations Act on at least 311 middle and top managers in the city's top 800 structure, informing them of possible retrenchment.
Imatu said the move was "premature" and "irresponsible".
Imatu's regional manager for Cape Town, Etienne Bruwer, said: "This move by the City of Cape Town could have devastating consequences on service delivery and could result in large-scale loss of critical skills that have enabled the city to grow and develop thus far."
The city employs about 26 000 employees with 66 percent of people from employment equity target groups in the three highest levels of management.
About half the city's employees are Imatu members.
Bruwer said the union had been caught off guard by the notices and had requested an urgent meeting with the city.
In response, city spokeswoman Priya Reddy said on Thursday that the city was "undertaking a plan to improve service delivery" which involved transforming the city into a customer-centric organisation.
"Part of this means adapting the city structure to meet the requirements. Management staff have been advised that their jobs may be affected by this as part of a consultative process between the city government and the recognised unions, facilitated by the CCMA."
Reddy said the outcome of the process was not yet known.
According to notices handed to employees, the process would be concluded by December.
In her address to the council last month, mayor Patricia de Lille said the ODTP was necessitated by changes to planning methodology and pioneering transversal management in the city's administration.
Cape Argus