Telkom employees affiliated with the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) staged yet another protest outside Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Friday while their leaders had a meeting with the African National Congress (ANC) leadership in a bid to ask them to intervene in their plight.
Telkom workers have been on strike for about five weeks, demanding 11 percent salary increments, six months maternity leave, gain-sharing, bridging the “apartheid wage gap†and a three-year moratorium on retrenchments and outsourcing.
The CWU argued that Telkom was still implementing apartheid era wage gaps, with evident disparities between African and white males in particular.
CWU’s Mphikeleli Nkuthu said the union was begging the ANC to remove Telkom chief executive, Sipho Maseko. He said it was clear that Telkom was not responsive to their demands but wanted the status quo to remain.
He also said if the situation did not change, the union would withdraw their labour as provided for by the Labour Relations Act.
“We will only return to work when the company responds to our demand,†Nkuthu said outside Luthuli House.
ANC spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa, was not immediately available for comment.
On Wednesday, Telkom filed an urgent interdict at the Johannesburg Labour Court in bid to stop workers from picketing outside some of their offices across the country.
CWU’s strike has coincided with Telkom’s Section 189 retrenchment process that was initiated earlier this year and which could affect more than 500 jobs.
This week, the Labour Court struck down the CWU’s bid to interdict Telkom from completing a restructuring process.
– African News Agency (ANA)
