The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has today confirmed that it has issued a notice of possible retrenchment to its staff after consultations with the public broadcaster’s key stakeholders.
According to the statement, the retrenchment will affect at least 600 employees and the SABC said the employees will be invited to make representations during a consultation process which will be facilitated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
“This is to ensure full transparency, accountability and impartiality in terms of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (“LRA”). Organised labour, as well as representatives of the non-unionised employees, will be consulted within a meaningful joint consensus-seeking process as mandated by Section 189 of the LRA,” reads the statement.
Sunday World on Sunday revealed that the state-owned enterprise has not abandoned its plans to embark on a restructuring process that could see workers dumped to reduce the cash-strapped organisation’s salary bill by R700-million.
The plans are contained in a confidential document titled “Reimagine the SABC through a new operating model”, which Sunday World has seen.
The corporation’s leadership said in the presentation that dwindling advertising revenue was chief among the reasons to cut the headcount.
In January, the public broadcaster was forced to abandon its plans to invoke section 189 of the Labour Relations Act to retrench 981 permanent staff members and more than 1 200 freelancers.
