MTN hits back at ‘defiling’ union allegations
MTN says it rejects ‘defiling’ claims by the Communication Worker’s Union (CWU) that it has threatened employees with dismissal due to ongoing strike action at the group.
MTN chief HR officer Thema Nyathi “scoffed” at the allegations by the CWU, which stated that the operator was also threatening to withdraw employee benefits as a punitive measure.
Nyathi said the allegations are “baseless and are meant to give credence to the strike that is losing momentum and credibility”.
“It is normal practise that when employees embark on industrial action the policy of no work no pay applies,” he said.
“The application of this rule to this strike is not an anomaly, and MTN reserves the right to apply this as stipulated in the Labour Relations Act.”
On 20 May, MTN employees embarked on a wage strike in which they demanded a 10% pay hike.
MTN has tabled an offer of 8% to the CWU and says it has remained firm on this offer, as it meets and exceeds the original demands by the CWU.
“The CWU is shifting the goalposts on its bonus demands and MTN remains firm on its offer,” said Nyathi.
The CWU announced on 5 June that it would launch a secondary strike against MTN. It was reported that the strike action had led to MTN outsourcing core functions due to the unavailability of staff.
MTN dismissed these claims.
“The reality is the core functions of the company have not been affected by the strike, the only areas that were affected by disruptions are support services such as the call centre and some areas in the distribution network,” it said.
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