Telkom released a statement in which they said they will proceed with the automatic transfer of its staff from its call centres, its supply chain area, and IT sector to new employers on the 31st March, “owing to the fact that the unions failed to secure a majority consensus on an additional offer from the company,” said Telkom.
“Our service levels have been under severe pressure for a number of weeks. We would like to apologise to all our customers for the poor service levels. We have brought additional staff into our already outsourced call centres and have increased our resourcing of the non-call centre customer options,” said spokesman Jacqui O’Sullivan.
According to Telkom, its discussions with organised labour, regarding the Section 197 process, has been underway for five weeks. SACU and Solidarity recently asked that Telkom make Voluntary Severance Packages (VSPs) and Voluntary Early Retirement Packages (VERPs) available to employees affected by Telkom’s current outsourcing initiative. Unions also requested that Telkom move the transfer date out from 31 March to 30 April.
Telkom said, it agrees to both request of postponing customer transfer date and retirement packages.
The solidarity and the South African Communication Union (SACU) accepted Telkom’s offer so did Solidarity and Sacu accepted Telkom’s offer ahead of the deadline, but the Communication workers Union (CWU) withheld the majority consent, which outrightly meant no agreement was reached.
“Solidarity and Sacu engaged very aggressively for their members and we believe the variation agreement was a reasonable middle ground for all parties. However, a majority consent is required and without such an agreement in place, we will have to proceed with the automatic transfers as planned at the end of this month.”
Telkom’s section 189 consultations, related to the closure of 20 Telkom Direct stores, continues today, facilitated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, the company said.
Telkom customer care centres has been inaccessible by customers in the past few weeks due to the recent happening. Customers were advised to reach out via www.telkom.co.za, SMS platform (“service” to 30591) or mail 10210@telkom.co.za.
