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26 July 2013
Telkom states the facts
Telkom believes that the labour agreement signed on Thursday with the majority union, the Communication Workers Union (CWU), is a means to address and eradicate salary disparities based on race and gender. The company hopes that Solidarity, by opposing the agreement is not attempting to perpetuate the disparities.
In support of Mr Maseko's statement that the CWU is the majority union at Telkom, the company provides the detail regarding each of the represented union's membership, within the bargaining unit, in tables below.
The information provided below reflects union membership as at 31 March 2013, when the negotiations began, and again at 30 June 2013, the latest figures available. In both instances, CWU has the majority membership of unionised employees, even when considered against the combined membership of the South African Communications Union and Solidarity. CWU also has the majority membership when Telkom's non-unionised employees are considered.
Table 1: UNIONISED EMPLOYEES WITHIN THE DEFINED BARGAINING AS AT 31 MARCH 2013 (At the start of the substantive negotiations)
| Trade Union | Number of Members | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| CWU | 7151 | 51.65% |
| SACU | 3815 | 27.55% |
| Solidarity | 2878 | 20.79% |
| TOTAL | 13844 | 100% |
Table 2: MEMBERSHIP BREAKDOWN INCLUDING NON-UNIONISED EMPLOYEES AS AT 31 MARCH 2013
| Trade Union | Number of Employees | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| CWU | 7151 | 39.06% |
| SACU | 3815 | 20.52% |
| Solidarity | 2878 | 15.18% |
| Non-Unionised | 4701 | 25.23% |
| TOTAL | 18545 | 100% |
Table 3: UNIONISED EMPLOYEES WITHIN THE DEFINED BARGAINING AS AT 30 JUNE 2013
| Trade Union | Number of Members | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| CWU | 6653 | 52.25% |
| SACU | 3495 | 27.45% |
| Solidarity | 2586 | 20.30% |
| TOTAL | 12734 | 100% |
Table 4: MEMBERSHIP BREAKDOWN INCLUDING NON-UNIONISED EMPLOYEES AS AT 30 JUNE 2013
| Trade Union | Number of Employees | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| CWU | 6653 | 39.06% |
| SACU | 3495 | 20.52% |
| Solidarity | 2586 | 15.18% |
| Non-Unionised | 4297 | 25.23% |
| TOTAL | 17031 | 100% |
Telkom also denies Solidarity's suggestion that the Company seeks to side with one union only. The Company points out that the agreement proposed to Solidarity's leadership seeks to benefit a greater number of its constituency, instead of an elite minority.
This is indicated in the following table which highlights the number of unionised employees currently below the 50th percentile per union.
Table 5. No of Employees below/above 50th percentile per union
Table six outlines how the proposed agreement will correct these disparities, highlighting in particular the benefits to each union’s constituency over a three year period. Telkom wishes to highlight in the table below that the majority of Solidarity's members will benefit from the agreement.
Table 6. Once-off package adjustment per union:
Telkom dismisses Solidarity's accusation that the company is blocking communication with the union's members. Telkom has established that the computer belonging to the Solidarity member responsible for the distribution of the communication had a technical fault. The company has offered its assistance to resolve the fault.
Telkom has also established that approximately 700 of the email addresses on the Solidarity distribution list does not reside within the Telkom.co.za domain, and therefore bounced back to the sender, indicating that the email addresses were not valid.
Telkom confirms that it has received written commitment from SACU that, following its internal processes, the union intends to sign the proposed agreement. Telkom's statement made at yesterday's media briefing was based on this written commitment.
For further enquiries, please contact:
|
Pynee Chetty Senior Specialist: Media Relations Group Communication Tel:+27 12 642 1716 Mobile: +27 81 389 7874 Email: chettpr2@telkom.co.za |
OR |
Leigh-Ann Francis Specialist: Media Relations Group Communication Tel: +27 12 642 1728 Mobile: +27 81 391 4780 Email: francilm@telkom.co.za |
|
Telkom Park, The Apex 92 Oak Avenue Technopark Highveld Centurion |
ABOUT TELKOM:
Telkom is a leading communications services provider in South Africa. We had consolidated operating revenue of R16.8 billion and normalised profit after tax of R1, 683 million for the period ended 30 September 2015. Total assets amounted to R41.9 billion and equity attributable to the owners of Telkom to R23.5 billion as of 30 September 2015. The group generated normalised free cash flow of R1.4 billion for the period ended 30 September 2015.
As of 30 September 2015, we had approximately 3.3 million telephone access lines in service and 1,030,441 ports connected via MSAN access. We offer business, residential and payphone customers a wide range of services and products, including:
- fixed-line retail voice services using PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) lines, including ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) lines, and the sale of subscription based value-added voice services and calling plans;
- fixed-line customer premises equipment rental and sales services both voice and data needs and these include PABX, Computers, Routers, Modems, Telephone handsets and other ancillary equipment;
- interconnection services, including terminating and transiting traffic from South African mobile operators, as well as from international operators and transiting traffic from mobile to international destinations;
- fixed-line data services, including domestic and international data transmission services, such as point-to-point leased lines, ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) services, packet-based services, managed data networking services and internet access and related information technology services;
- Data Centre Operations includes e-commerce, application service provider, hosting, data storage, e-mail and security services;
- W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), a 3G next generation network, including fixed voice services, data services and nomadic voice services;
- mobile communication services, including voice services, data services and handset sales through our mobile navbar-brand called Telkom Mobile;
- information and communication services including cloud services, infrastructure services, workspace services, global service integration management and hardware and network equipment sales locally, in seven African countries, the UK and Dubai through Business Connexion Group; and
- other services including directory services, through Trudon (Pty) Ltd, wireless data services, through Swiftnet (Pty) Ltd.
Convergence is one of our key strategic initiatives in building a sustainable future for Telkom. We will lead the provision of converged services in South Africa in support of our mission statement: Seamlessly connecting people to a better life.