Telkom owes employees almost R5 million after arbitration
19 July 2021
Solidarity today announced that it has won an arbitration award against Telkom for the second time round. The issue related to the interpretation of salary increases for Telkom employees that were due from April 2017. This comes after Solidarity had entered into an agreement with Telkom in 2016 in terms of which the parties had agreed on a 6% salary increase that would take effect in April 2017.
Solidarity contended that Telkom, however, did not keep to the agreement and did not abide by its provisions. As a result, more than a thousand employees had been disadvantaged unfairly.
“Telkom decided unilaterally to calculate the 6% increase on the 50th percentile of each individual’s functional area and not on the total package of each individual employee as per the agreement,” Linda Senekal, Solidarity’s sector coordinator for the communication industry explained.
Solidarity explains that this matter has dragged on since 2017 as Telkom took the first arbitration award given in Solidarity’s favour on revision. The matter was taken on revision to the Labour Court, which in turn again referred the matter to arbitration. After several tough arbitration sessions which took place between February 2020 and May 2021 Solidarity again won the case.
“What makes this such a huge victory is the fact that a major institution such as Telkom can from now on be taken to task not to treat agreements casually. Solidarity signed the agreement based on the mandates it had received from its members and would not have accepted an agreement that was not in the best interests of the employees and members,” Senekal explained. “Our main victory lies in the fact that we can now admonish Telkom to do the right thing in future, adhering to agreements and to not simply amend agreements and policies unilaterally at the expense of employees.”
In terms of the award, Telkom must pay employees according to the provisions of the agreement as agreed upon in 2016, which means that the 6% salary increase must be granted based on the individual’s total package. Where applicable, employees must therefore be remunerated retrospectively from 1 April in terms of the 2016 agreement.
“Amid these incredibly challenging times where employees all too often had to bite the bullet due to lockdowns and the pandemic, it is encouraging to know that when Telkom salaries are paid at the end of this month, those employees who are eligible for it will be able to jointly put an extra R4,6 million into their pockets. We are absolutely delighted with this,” Senekal concluded.
Issued by Linda Senekal, Sector coordinator: Education and General, Solidarity, 19 July 2021
