SABC employees held a heated meeting with the public broadcaster’s COO Ian Plaatjies and Group Executive – News and Current Affairs, Phathiswa Magopeni, over the retrenchment of 400 staff members.
The employees told management they won’t accept the latest round of restructuring plans and called for the resignation of management.
The SABC is planning to cut hundreds of jobs in the coming months.
The broadcaster has recorded a loss of over R500-million in the 2019/2020 financial year.
Trade Union Bemawu says the issuing of what it calls “letters of termination” by the SABC to employees before consultations are concluded is illegal and the matter is to be ventilated in the Labour Court.
The SABC said last week that employees whose posts were redundant would be issued letters by Wednesday this week. Bemawu is applying to the court to interdict retrenchments at the public broadcaster.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said on Monday that it will soon embark on a full-blown strike against the SABC‘s restructuring process, which could see as many as 400 full-time employees lose their jobs.
A group of workers embarked on a lunch-hour picket at the public broadcaster’s headquarters in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, to protest against the restructuring process.
They were joined by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) members as well as South African Federation of Trade Unions'(Saftu) Zwelinzima Vavi.
Addressing the gathering, CWU General Secretary Aubrey Tshabalala said labour unions are currently engaged in two processes at the SABC.
“One is we have to interdict. That’s what comrades at Bemawu will do. CWU will announce once it gets a certificate to embark on a fully-fledged strike. We’re going to announce sometime this week, and we’re going to make a call to all SABC workers, affected or not affected, let us make sure that there’s a blackout at the SABC. But this is the beginning of protests, marches, not only here, but across the nation.”
Meanwhile, Magopeni announced on Tuesday that retrenchments letters issued to staff would be reversed.
(SOURCE: INSIDE POLITICS)
