Photo by: Duane Daws
Telecommunications giant Telkom will approach its employees directly after talks between it and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) over the current Section 197 process deadlocked this week.
All affected employees would receive the option of taking up voluntary severance packages (VSP) and voluntary early retirement packages (VERP) in lieu of transferring to new external employers tasked to take over certain functions within Telkom.
“Our affected employees have made it very clear that they want the option of a VSP or VERP in making their final decision. This has repeatedly been communicated by many of the affected employees to their Telkom line managers,” Telkom spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan said on Tuesday.
Discussions with the South African Communication Union (Sacu), Solidarity and the CWU over Telkom’s intention to transfer its 1 300 call centre, supply chain and information technology employees to the firms it outsourced the activities to had been under way for the past five weeks.
Sacu and Solidarity accepted the additional options tabled by Telkom for the affected employees, but CWU declined.
“We do not believe it is in the best interest of our people for the CWU members to be barred from accessing the VSP and VERP option simply because their union has chosen to deadlock,” she explained.
The company’s last meeting with the CWU ended Monday evening with no progress having been made.