Voluntary severance packages: More than 1 500 Telkom experts left in March; April figures still unknown: Skills crisis in Telkom after Solidarity's warnings fall on deaf ears
Telkom's thoughtless approval of voluntary severance packages (VSP's) led to a serious skills shortage at the telecommunication giant. Telkom renewed several employees' retirement dates in an attempt to transfer scarce skills, trade union Solidarity said today.
Approximately 1800 Telkom employees applied for the VSP's between 21 February and 18 March this year for retirement date either at the end of March or April. An amount of 1 650 applications have already been approved, of which 945, or 57%, were voluntary early retirement packages (VERP's) for employees close to retirement.
Despite several warnings from Solidarity regarding the skills shortage crisis which the severance packages will create, as well as various complaints regarding the discriminating nature of the selection criteria, the packages came into effect in April. This happened exactly one day after an agreement, which was reached in 2009 between various trade unions and Telkom, guaranteeing employees' job security until 31 March 2011, expired.
According to Marius Croucamp, spokesperson for Solidarity, it is clear that Telkom was in a rush to get rid of a large number of employees. "One of the tactics which the company used was to offer a larger package for employees who ended their services earlier. Employees who retired on 31 March qualified for six months' salary, while employees who retired on 30 April, only qualified for four months' salary," Croucamp explained.
Meanwhile, it is also clear that Telkom did not follow their own criteria when applications for VSP's were considered. One criterion which Telkom set in consideration for VSP applications was the preservation of skills, but it is clear that the company targeted especially older employees when the applications were approved.
"In more than 57% of the applications which were approved, the employees were close to retirement and that is exactly where Telkom's wealth of skills is contained," said Croucamp. "Telkom now wants to transfer the skills of 945 employees, each with between 10 and 30 years experience in the industry, to remaining Telkom employees who are already functioning under a lot more pressure," according to Croucamp.
Statement issued by Marius Croucamp, Spokesperson: Solidarity, May 25 2011
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