Union to continue with SABC blackout despite retrenchment halt

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) says its proposed Friday blackout at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will continue despite the public broadcaster’s board issuing a statement on Friday morning stating that retrenchment processes will be suspended for seven days to allow all stakeholders to engage further.

The general secretary of the CWU Aubrey Shabalala said last night’s board meeting, which resulted in the temporary suspension of the retrenchment process was a mere discussion among board members only.

Shabalala said the union only came to know of the decision to suspend the retrenchment process through the press statement released on Friday morning.

Shabalala said Section 189 was “very legal process” and if the board were genuine about their response they would have followed due processes to respond to the issues at hand and engage all relevant stakeholders.

“We don’t even know what informs the seven days,” Shabalala said.

Shabalala said if the board were “decent”, the union and all stakeholders would have been called to a meeting to discuss the decision to temporarily suspended the retrenchment process, as well as the reasons that informed it.

The union’s strike will continue on Friday, with the blackout of the SABC expected at 12pm, Shabalala said.

The CWU has called on all its members, those of other unions and non-unionised staffers, to heed the call for a strike in the interest of saving jobs.

Shabalala said the CWU expected a good turn out at its pickets at various SABC outlets, with the main picket at Auckland Park, where at 1pm speakers were expected to deliver their addresses and at 1.30pmm, a memorandum of demands would be handed over.

Shabalala said the current proposed structure “undermines the pillars of our democracy” and disrespected indigenous languages because it proposed, for example, that current affairs shows in Tshivenda and Xitsonga should be discontinued.

The cutting of the jobs such as those of content producers, editors, field workers, researchers and journalist would be “cutting the base of production” at the SABC, which would force the broadcaster to now purchase content from elsewhere, Shabalala said.

Shabalala said if the SABC purchased content from other sources, the argument that retrenchments were a way of cutting costs then “falls off”.

In its financial statement, the broadcaster had cried foul over certain staffers having excessive leave, however, Shabalala said there were human resources processes in place to deal with such issues.

The CWU has two chief demands, firstly that the broadcaster immediately recalls all the dismissal letters that have been issued and secondly, that the corporate plan and retrenchment process must be abandoned.

Shabalala said the union was not against a restructuring process but wanted one that would not result in job losses.

All of the SABC’s broadcasting platforms, including radio and television, would be blacked out, Shabalala said.

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