Telecom giants' employees prepared to strike over potential jobs cuts

folarin okunola

August 17, 2016 12:29 PM

MTN workers have been disgruntled since last week and many of them have expressed outrage at the company's outsourcing decision, calling it a "jobs bloodbath"

MTN Group's interim executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko, file. REUTERS/Aladin Abdel Naby

A few weeks ago, South African telecoms company MTN announced that it would be outsourcing some of its services such as call center operation after it reported losses of over $300 million.

Effectively, that was just MTN's way of saying that it was going to cut jobs - a lot of them. Media reports coming out of South Africa reveal that the Communications Workers Union (CWU) and the MTN management had a meeting on Tuesday which could determine if the union decides to take strike action against MTN or not.

According to some of those reports, MTN workers have been disgruntled since last week and many of them have expressed outrage at the company's outsourcing decision, calling it a "jobs bloodbath".

Speaking to Fin24 on Monday, CWU president Clyde Mervin, said the union had been engaging with its members as they ponder a strike action against MTN.

Fin24 further reports that a key meeting between the CWU and the management of MTN to discuss the way out of the situation had been scheduled for Tuesday.

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“Strike action is imminent – we have not yet decided when it will take place but we cannot allow this to happen,” Mervin said, according to the Fin24 report.

Meanwhile, MTN Chief Human Resources Officer Nhlanla Qwabe, already said the company was open to further discussions and consultation with the union on the matter and provide much needed clarity if needed.

“MTN is implementing on its strategy of transforming customer experience, an important component to our strategy that the union has been fully appraised of.”

“MTN hopes for resolution that will have a less impact to our customers and employees,” said Qwabe.

MTN has reported over $300 million in losses at its last earnings call and decided to cut back on its workforce by outsourcing a part of its call center facility. The company is yet to recover from the effect of its battle with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over a record 3.9 billion fine.

folarin okunola