Johannesburg – The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is threatening to step up strike action against mobile network MTN.
The union’s members have entered into a third week of strikes which has hit MTN’s outsourced call centre and franchise services.
Last month Fin24 reported that striking workers are holding out for a salary increase of 8% after revising their demand for 10%. The workers also want a 12% bonus.
“Given management’s intransigence, the Communication Workers Union had no option but to intensify the strike action,” the CWU said in a press statement on Friday.
The CWU says it plans to provide notice of a secondary strike “meaning that all companies linked to MTN will be served on Monday 8th June 2015 with a notice of CWU’s intention to embark on a secondary strike”.
The CWU has further said that it plans to call on other unions and civil society to boycott usage of MTN services.
Meanwhile, the union has claimed to have also approached the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to mediate in the dispute.
Strike action drags on
To date, the strike has been marred by allegations of intimidation and violence. Two weeks ago MTN took the CWU to the Johannesburg Labour Court demanding that the union stops blocking entrances to the telecom company’s office buildings, and halts intimidating staff.
On May 20, Fin24 observed broken glass blocking entrances to MTN’s head office in Johannesburg during a strike. Subsequently, images appeared on social media last week Friday depicting strikers placing burning tyres outside the entrances of MTN’s head office in Johannesburg.
In its press statement on Friday the CWU has accused MTN of lying about the union’s representation in the company. MTN says CWU members do not meet a 30% threshold for the telecoms company to recognise the union, but CWU says it has greater membership levels in MTN.
The CWU has also dismissed MTN’s claimed that 90% of its staff are at work during the strike. The CWU alleges that MTN has hired more outsourced companies to step in during this time.
The CWU is also accusing MTN of sending union members text messages “threatening them that they will lose employment if they continue with the strike”.
The CWU has even said that MTN has threatened workers with “chronic illnesses that they won’t be paying their medical aid unless they come back to work”.
MTN responds
Responding to CWU’s claims, MTN says that it has tabled an offer of 8% to the CWU and that the telecoms company remains “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,” MTN said in its statement.
MTN has also hit back at the CWU’s allegations that it has “outsourced its core functions to third parties”.
“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,” said Themba Nyathi, MTN’s chief human resources officer in a statement.
Nyathi also said that allegations that MTN has threatened striking workers with dismissal and withdrawal of benefits are “baseless and are meant to give credence to the strike that is losing momentum and credibility”.
Nyathi in his statement also reiterated MTN’s no work no pay policy.
“It is normal practise that when employees embark on industrial action the policy of no work no pay applies,” Nyathi said.
Nyathi also said that “a legally binding arbitration process if the only way that MTN and the CWU can end the current industrial action”.
“The arbitration process will ensure that an independent party who does not have a vested interest in this matter can adjudicate on this matter in a fair and impartial manner,” said Nyathi.
“MTN has repeatedly said that it will abide by the findings of the arbitrator, and we urge the CWU to stop being populist and consider acceding to this process as it is the most practical and fair manner of ending this stalemate,” Nyathi added.
Gareth van Zyl, Fin24
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