JOHANNESBURG: Telkom SA, South Africa’s biggest land-line provider denied a union’s claim that the company was planning to cut up to 55 per cent of its 18,000 strong workforce in a major restructuring.
Telkom, in which the government owns about a 40 percent stake, is in the middle of a turnaround plan that aims to bring down costs and better compete with wireless operators MTN Group and Vodacom.
The Solidarity Union said in that it expected to receive a formal notice of the job cuts from Telkom on Monday.
Marius Croucamp, union’s spokesman said the company’s management informed the trade union that it is planning on restructuring its field force division. As many as 10,000 employees could possibly be affected by the process.
Jacqui O’Sullivan, Telkom’s Managing Executive for Group Communication, said Telkom’s meeting with organized labor is still ongoing. The claims by Solidarity are incorrect. More details will be shared once the meeting and the necessary process has been concluded.
Telkom also said its field force, made up of staff working outside of offices, such as technicians, was not under discussion.
Shares in the company were down 0.2 per cent at 76.78 rand, slightly lagging behind a 0.03 per cent decline in the JSE All share index.
