21 Mar 2005

Telecom Fiji yet to finalise number of job cuts sought inhuge redundancy offer

8:10 pm on 21 March 2005

The company secretary of Telecom Fiji, Samuel Vadei, says they don't have a confirmed number of projected job cuts amid plans for mass redundancies.

Unions have voiced concern after all of Telecom's 1200-plus workers were offered voluntary redundancy as part of a restructuring plan.

The president of the Telecom workers union says management needs to come up with a better redundancy package than the standard forumula of two weeks for every year worked after a three month payout.

Timoci Motokula says the union has made its stand clear that any redundancies have to be voluntary.

But Sam Vadei says neither the number of projected redundancies or the formula of the redundancy packages have been finalised.

And he says there will be no forced redundancies.

"They're looking at formulas used outside the organisation, whatever is used by the government and what is used by the union in other companies that have gone through redundancy, and we'll try and be on the same formula."

The company secretary of Telecom Fiji, Samuel Vadei