Union squares up to Telkom

By Damaria Senne for Telkom
Johannesburg, 18 Sep 2006

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) plans to ask the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which is holding a congress this week, to declare Telkom a "bad employer", says spokesman Mfanafuthi Sithebe.

Should the motion succeed, investors will be forced to re-look at Telkom`s relations with its employees and put pressure on it to change, he says.

Sithebe also says the CWU has called on the Human Rights Commission to intervene in Telkom`s plans to retrench staff.

He could not provide details as to the scope of the planned retrenchments, but says the fixed-line operator is interviewing managers in the legal and regulatory affairs division, with a view to determine whether they should be retrenched or retained.

A letter, outlining the union`s request and the specific interventions to address the problem, will be submitted to the commission, he says. "We have written letters to Telkom`s office of the CEO requesting a meeting, but he is refusing to meet with CWU`s president."

Racial division

An issue that has angered the union and has lead to its decision to take action is Telkom`s recognition of the South African Communications Union (SACU) and Solidarity as trade unions legitimately participating in the bargaining process.

CWU argues it was previously agreed that Telkom would only recognise a union which represents at least 30% of the workforce. SACU represents about 12%, Solidarity 27%, while CWU represents 38% of Telkom employees, Sithebe says.

The reason Telkom is entering into this agreement, Sithebe argues, is to divide the unions along racial lines and weaken them for future negotiations and day-to-day employee relations management.

He says CWU is still trying to determine why Solidarity, which entered a strategic alliance with the CWU to form the Coalition of Telkom Unions, has accepted Telkom`s proposal to recognise it independently.

Telkom had not responded at the time of publication.