The Johannesburg Labour Court has made an agreement reached last week between trade union Solidarity and telecommunications group Telkom an order of the court, the union said on Tuesday.

The agreement outlined the suspension of all planned selections, appointments and retrenchments, with new criteria for Telkom’s restructuring process set to be tabled and considered during the consultation process.

This came after Solidarity launched an urgent application for an interdict in the Labour Court to stay what it claimed was a “flawed consultation process” that Telkom had followed during its restructuring and retrenchment process.

In terms of the court order, a facilitator had to be appointed to facilitate the consultations regarding the proposed retrenchments. The court order further prohibited Telkom from making any appointments or carrying out any retrenchments until the facilitation process had been concluded. 

This came amid allegations by the South African Communication Union (Sacu) and Solidarity of excessive job cuts and race-based retrenchments, with Sacu announcing its intention of taking Telkom to court, believing the telecommunications giant planned to retrench about 9 500 of its 19 000 employees over the next six months.

According to Solidarity deputy general-secretary Johan Kruger, the new facilitation process between the parties started on Monday.

“We trust that the new consultation process led by a facilitator will take place correctly and transparently. We are delighted that the legal process we followed, together with the public pressure against Telkom’s planned layoffs, had the desired effect.

“We are aware that the big fight regarding Telkom’s business rationale and the proposed use of race as a selection criterion still lies ahead. Solidarity is determined to do its utmost to protect the rights of its members both during and after the consultation process,” he noted.