BEMAWU vows to stop planned retrenchments at the SABC

Broadcasting, Electronic, Media & Allied Workers Union (BEMAWU) has vowed to urgently approach the Labour Court to stop the planned retrenchments at the SABC.

BEMAWU says it was not consulted before the SABC issued the notice of its intention to start the retrenchment process.

In a statement, the SABC says it could not continue in its current form – also stating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on its operations.

#COVID19inSouthAfrica Update | As at 18 June, 83 890 positive cases have been confirmed in the country, with 1737 deaths recorded. The recoveries stand at 44 920. https://t.co/1QUYmbDZ5A #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/dGZQs5a7LE

— SABC News (@SABCNews) June 18, 2020

But, the union says the retrenchment plan caught them completely off-guard.

BEMAWU’s President Hannes du Buisson says, “Our remedy is to revert to the Labour Court on an urgent basis to stop this process. If the SABC claims that it consulted and that they are proceeding with the retrenchments, the letter that they served on us today said that the SABC has not made a final decision in this respect but most certainly SABC employees can be assured that we will not simply let the SABC make people lose their jobs.”

In the video below, BEMAWU reacts to possible SABC job cuts:

The SABC says it will consult with its over 3000 employees about plans to cut jobs and restructure the broadcaster.

Communications Workers Union’s Clive Mervin says the SABC had an opportunity to engage the union’s three days ago.

“As the Communications Workers Union, we have never engaged with the SABC on retrenchments, so we have not had a formal discussion with the SABC. The only meeting we had as the national office bearers with the SABC was to discuss the whole issue of restructuring, and we have never discussed any issues on retrenchment, so they are acting in very bad faith. In actual fact, they are cowards instead of talking to us, they had an opportunity to engage us as the national office bearers in our meeting of three days ago.”

In the video below, CWU caught completely off-guard by SABC retrenchments: