Solidarity requests a moratorium on Telkom retrenchments
16 January 2020
Solidarity today addressed a letter to Telkom asking for a moratorium on forced retrenchments. This comes after the company notified unions that up to 3 000 workers could be retrenched.
Retrenchments become necessary when the sustainability of a company is at issue, but this retrenchment round in fact threatens the company’s financial sustainability.
“A company cannot pay its executive team more than R100 million and then get rid of 3 000 of its workforce. That is reckless and, given the labour market retrenched workers have to face, it is merciless. In the previous financial year Telkom’s CEO, Sipho Maseko, alone took home a full R23 million,” Dr Dirk Hermann, Solidarity CEO said.
Solidarity is requesting that an aggressive retraining programme be implemented during the moratorium so workers can be equipped with new skills to help Telkom grow in the fast-changing information environment. Telkom workers must move forward with the company from fixed line services to mobile services.