Tech is killing jobs - CWUWed, 02 Feb 2011 7:00 ShareEmailMore The advancement of technology in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector has cost "thousands" of jobs in the past few years, the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) said on Monday.
"In the past few years, Telkom had a workforce of 69,000, but now it has only 23,000 workers. There have been huge retrenchments in this sector," CWU first deputy president Karthi Pillay said on the first day of the union's national congress in Durban. "We call on these corporations to make sure that they avoid retrenchments. Those who have been retrenched have to be retrained and opportunities be created for them." Pillay further expressed concern about Santec's high vacancy rate, the Post Bank and the SABC. "Bad management at Santec [the Society and Network for Technology in Education through Collaboration] is also a major problem. There are also allegations of corruption there." "Major changes" at the Post Bank were also cause for concern. “We hear that there is going to be major changes at Post Bank. We are worried about that because it is a state bank. We don't know whether these changes would mean that disadvantaged people will not benefit.” Regarding the SABC, Pillay said the broadcaster had to be independent. “The turnaround strategies are not working at SABC. That needs to change and people involved in mismanagement and corruption be dealt with.” African National Congress secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and Congress of SA Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi failed to arrive as scheduled to speak to delegates. Pillay said Vavi was likely to be there on Tuesday. The conference ends on Wednesday. -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
