Telkom faces mass action

By Christelle du Toit for Telkom
Johannesburg, 01 Apr 2008

All three labour unions, which have been locked in wage negotiations with Telkom since August last year, are declaring disputes with the fixed-line operator, paving the way for mass action.

Representing 22 500 workers between them, the South African Communications Union (SACU), Communication Workers Union (CWU), and Solidarity have all rejected Telkom's latest offer of a 7.5% wage increase.

Unions are demanding in the region of an 11% increase on the back of high interest rates, rising inflationary pressures, and increases in food and petrol prices.

"It is SACU's opinion that our members have, in fact, become poorer over the past few months as they cannot buy the same number of goods with the same amount of money they did 12 months ago," explains Jannie Volschenk, assistant general secretary for SACU.

Volschenk says the union has, therefore, formally rejected Telkom's latest offer and will now go to the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. In the meantime, it will ask its members what action to take should this fail, and this includes the possibility of a full-blown strike.

SACU represents about 6 000 workers within Telkom, while the CWU represents about 13 000, and Solidarity about 3 500.

Solidarity spokesman Jaco Kleynhans and CWU deputy general-secretary Thabo Mogolane have confirmed their unions have also rejected Telkom's offer and are declaring a dispute that could lead to a mass strike.

While the CWU and Solidarity are co-operating in their bargaining with Telkom, SACU has chosen to go it alone. The differentiator in the two groups' position is that SACU insists upon actual increases, as opposed to average increases.

"An average increase is calculated on the average salary of a [specific] salary grade, while an actual increase is the percentage increase on the employee's personal salary," explains Volschenk. "The average increase results in a lower percentage increase the higher an employee's salary is."

Telkom has, however, indicated it will pay average increases and, while the dispute continues, it will implement a 6.25% increase as of today as per the 2006 substantive agreement with the unions.

This agreement was signed for three years, but allowed for re-negotiation should the CPIX rise by more than 3%, which it subsequently has done.

At the time of publication, Telkom's spokesmen indicated the company would want to comment on the matter, but needed more time to do so.