Solidarity, Telkom to resume wage talks

Solidarity on Thursday (6 June) emphasised that a strike would be the last resort and an attempt to find a solution around the negotiating table was a better option.

Marius Croucamp‚ Solidarity's spokesman‚ said Telkom and the trade unions would resume negotiations on 12 June‚ after which the matter would again be heard by a commissioner of the CCMA on 24 June.

"Telkom is standing by its offer of a 6% increase as part of a three-year agreement. The telecommunications company is also sticking to the omission of the condition that no forced retrenchments will take place during the three years. We are unhappy with this omission‚ as we have already presented the amended offer‚ which included this condition‚ to our members in order to obtain a mandate from them‚" said Croucamp.

"We are concerned that the omission of this condition may lead to forced retrenchments. We are‚ however‚ still more than willing to negotiate with Telkom and will submit any fair offer from the employer to our members," he added.

The wage dispute between Telkom and the trade unions was heard by the CCMA on Wednesday (5 June)‚ after the unions rejected the company's final wage offer of a 1.5% increase. However‚ Telkom had submitted an amended wage offer to the unions before the matter was heard by the CCMA.

Solidarity said that negotiations concerning the amended offer reached a deadlock earlier in the week after Telkom removed conditions from its amended wage offer amid a process to obtain mandates from employees regarding the offer.

Telkom earlier embarked on a process to offer voluntary severance packages and voluntary early retirement packages to its entire workforce of around 21‚000 people. Croucamp said Solidarity has learned that more than 1‚500 employees have already accepted packages.