Battle lines drawn at Denel as retrenchments loom

ANOTHER skirmish is brewing at State arms manufacturer Denel as unions gear up for a hearing possibly next week on the parastatal’s intention to retrench at least 663 Denel employees in five categories.

Trade unions Solidarity and the United Associations of South Africa (Uasa) confirmed yesterday they had received communication from the Council for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration to prepare for the sessions, which might start very soon.

“We are waiting for the commissioners and trade union officials to be assembled. We can start tentatively next week … we are prepared to negotiate,” said Uasa’s sector manager Rick Grobler.

Solidarity’s public sector deputy secretary-general, Helgard Cronjé, also confirmed that the union was gearing up for the fight and would represent the interest of its workers at the discussions.

A proposed retrenchment date of October 1, pending the putting into place of all necessary consultation processes and people, is envisaged.

This is the first visible move made by newly appointed chief executive of Denel, Michael Kgobe, who replaced William Hlakoane on September 1, who has informed organised labour of “possible dismissals based on operational requirements”.

According to defence news portal DefenceWeb, the targeted categories include senior officials and managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerks and “crafts and related trades”.

The letter to organised labour by Kgobe said this would see a reduction in the overall company cost base, improve operating efficiencies and see “a possible reduction in operating structure and employee headcount across all operations”.

“If implemented” the restructuring proposal will ensure effective organisation of Denel operations to “successfully” bring into being the re-purposed company strategy. This, according to Kgobe’s letter, “may give rise to some positions being declared redundant and possible retrenchments”.

Five pages of correspondence set out, in varying levels of detail, the intentions of the Denel board and management to restructure operations. This will evolve into “an optimised operating model and value proposition” for the State-owned defence and technology conglomerate.

The selection criteria for the axe include relevant experience and qualifications, competency, skills and diversity.

If a selection cannot be made, Lifo (last in, first out) will apply and could include “bumping” (when employees with more years of service take positions from those with fewer service years).

Kgobe’s administration has embarked on cost-saving measures.