BL Premium reports that on Wednesday the government moved to avert imminent retrenchments at the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), suggesting a number of alternatives it said could bring an amicable solution to the dispute between employees and management.
Communications, telecommunications & postal services minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams and her employment & labour counterpart Thulas Nxesi met the SABC board, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) at the weekend and again on Tuesday. The unions and management were tight-lipped about the alternatives that had been put on the table. Ndabeni-Abrahams’s spokesperson Mish Molakeng indicated that the minister and Nxesi had made a “number of alternative proposals” to the parties to consider and explore, but he did not say what those were. The meetings came after the Labour Court on Friday dismissed Bemawu’s application for leave to challenge an earlier ruling that the broadcaster’s retrenchment process affecting 303 employees across various levels was above board. Molakeng said the SABC board had requested time to look at the proposals in its next board meeting scheduled for Friday. CWU general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala said they were not allowed to say at the moment what the alternatives were, though the key objectives remained that of saving jobs.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
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