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An additional 30-day suspension of staff reduction notices was announced at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
On Tuesday morning, SABC Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ian Plaatjies announced the suspension of the Section 189 process for another 30 days, compared to the seven days announced last week. The objective was to allow the conclusion of the commitments between the interested parties in the process.
But some saw it as an attempt to end the current strike by SABC employees who demanded that the planned reduction of at least 400 workers who had been declared laid off in a cost-cutting exercise be halted entirely.
SABC employees disagreed with the extended suspension of the process and insisted on the complete withdrawal of the dismissal letters. They asked their unions, the Communications Workers Union (CWU) and the Broadcasting, Electronics, Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu), not to give in on that demand.
“They were written on a faulty basis. If not, what are the 30 days to review the structures when they have been completed? “said the employees.
READ MORE: SABC dismissals are not unjustified
Following the suspension of the downsizing process, the communications and labor departments needed to raise at least R1.4 billion to keep the SABC operational while exploring a way to avoid downsizing.
This was the result of talks between the heads of the SABC, the unions and Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams and Labor and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi on Monday. The talks were organized in an attempt to save the cash-strapped public broadcaster and avoid the pending cuts proposed in terms of Section 189 of the Labor Relations Act.
During talks on Monday it was proposed that the communications and labor departments should contribute R700 million each to rescue SABC. The work would use funds from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and the two departments would contribute the remaining amount in the next four days.
Ndabeni-Abrahams has been asked to intervene to ensure that his department pays the debt of more than R300 million that SABC owes Sentech, a signal distributor for the broadcasting sector.
His response to the matter was eagerly awaited by SABC staff, who held pickets at lunchtime in Auckland Park and regional offices across the country.
READ MORE: SABC protest is ‘a success’, says union after meeting with application to discuss Section 189 notices
One thing that became clear during the discussions was that the National Treasury would not bail out the corporation. Instead, the Treasury CEO and his Communications counterpart should decide how the funds would be raised.
Unions refuse to budge
Both the CWU and Bemawu representatives in the talks insisted that they demanded that the spending cut letters be withdrawn, otherwise the meeting would end.
“We cannot be playing a yo-yo here and there, we cannot make an academic argument … we are clear about what we are saying. The meeting ends now if you don’t have a different mandate, ”CWU Secretary General Aubrey Tshabalala said in a recorded conversation with management.
“We cannot drag an unnecessary meeting. We have thousands of workers waiting for this meeting to conclude. Before the meeting is over, there will be no more confusion, ”he said.
Bemawu President Hannes du Buisson asked SABC management why the dismissal letters could not be withdrawn. But SABC management insisted that they could not withdraw the letters because they believed the old structures had doubled the compliments of the staff.
“We are not going to finish the process. The process so far remains. However, the letters that are issued are suspended for 30 days, ”Plaatjies said in response.
But Du Buisson insisted that the process was not fair.
“This must end and the parties must get down to the serious business of dealing with the lives and livelihoods of SABC employees,” he said.
He said the SABC should admit that the dismissal letters given to staff were wrong and that they should withdraw them for now and reissue them, perhaps, after six months in which everyone had been consulted.
“We are asking for a very simple thing. We are saying that employees cannot walk with goals on their back as long as there is an agreement that we are going to review the structures and SABC is open to persuasion on those structures.
“If we can’t agree on a point as simple as this, how are we going to agree on anything else?” Du Buisson said.
Management also said it would consult with employees regarding voluntary severance packages and early retirement.
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