Telkom today announced its next steps to unlock further cost efficiencies
within four areas of the business, namely, certain Telkom’s Direct Stores,
Call Centres, IT Legacy Systems and internal printing and Supply Chain
and Properties.
When Telkom initially embarked on its turnaround strategy, the Company
stated that it would look at alternatives, such as joint ventures, to ensure
that job losses would be avoided and only used as a very final course of
action. To this end, Telkom has completed a stringent procurement process
and has identified external companies to undertake call centre operations,
the management of IT legacy systems, a company to undertake the management
of Telkom warehouses in the Supply Chain area of the business, as well
as a company to take over internal printing activities.
A Section 197 process has been initiated for staff impacted in these areas
of the business. These affected employees will be transferred to their
new employers in the coming months.
Telkom is committed to a fair, objective and transparent process. The
process will be consultative. A meeting with Organised Labour took place
this morning. The official consultation process will begin on Friday this
week, with more consultations to following over the coming weeks. Affected
staff have also been informed.
Telkom has conducted detailed analyses of the viability of all the Telkom
Direct Stores. The research has shown that it is, unfortunately, no longer
viable to continue running some of the company’s 95 stores. It is clear
that significant cost efficiencies can be realised, by closing down these
unviable stores.
These affected employees have today been notified of the decision and,
in terms of the Labour Relations Act, have been issued with Section 189
Notices. Telkom will explore every option to place the affected employees
impacted by this process in other areas of the business. Should such attempts
be unsuccessful, some of the affected employees may unfortunately be retrenched.
Telkom’s restructuring process is an imperative for the survival of the
business and to secure the long term and sustainable growth of the company.
The intention is to build the right organisation for the future by improving
the business performance and unlocking efficiencies.
Telkom maintains its commitment to conduct this difficult process with
respect to both the letter and the spirit of South Africa’s labour laws.
Earlier today, during Telkom's meeting with Organised Labour,
Solidarity issued a statement claiming Telkom will be restructuring the
“Field Force” impacting up to 10 000 people. This is not a correct reflection
of the day’s discussions. Today’s meeting, which will be followed with
the initiation of the formal consultation process, pertains only to the
call centre, IT legacy systems, supply chain warehousing and the affected
Telkom stores. The Telkom Field Force is currently not part of the discussions
with Organised Labour.
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:
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.