Barloworld Logistics, which took the management of 25 Telkom warehouses in the supply chain area of the business, is in a process of retrenching workers it attained through the outsicng of the telco businesses. By Gugu Lourie
The process by Telkom to outsource its warehouses in the supply chain area was part of the company’s strategy to unlock further cost inefficiencies and improve customer service.
The Telkom employees were transferred to Barloworld Logistics earlier this year.
“Yesterday, in a presentation to trade unions, Barloworld Logistics indicated that it was planning to reduce its work premises from 35 to 17. This would mean that about 112 former Telkom employees that had been transferred to Barloworld earlier this year, would have to undergo a second restructuring process this year,” Solidarity union said in a statement on Wednesday.
However, the union said these employees have the choice to be transferred to Barloworld’s premises in Boksburg.
Marius Croucamp, Solidarity spokesman, said if these employees do not want to relocate, they will have the opportunity to apply for 16 vacant positions in other branches of the company, inter alia in Port Elizabeth, Witbank and Kwazulu-Natal.
“The reality is that there will once again be an upheaval in the lives of these employees because their place of work will change. In almost all the cases, the employees and their families will have to relocate. If they do not want to relocate, and if they are not appointed in one of the other 16 available positions at one of the other work premises, the employees will be able to apply for voluntary severance packages. As an alternative the employees will be allocated to a ‘pool’. However, it is not clear what the company’s plans for this ‘pool’ of employees will be,” Croucamp said.
“We shall consider taking legal action against the company if we are not satisfied with the outcome of the process,” Croucamp said.
