Johannesburg - Telecommunications company MTN has rejected a proposed settlement agreement from the Communication Workers Union (CWU), dashing any hopes of an end to the five-week strike against the company.
This week, the union said it was confident MTN would enter into a wage agreement after talks which saw both parties making remarkable compromises. But on Tuesday, MTN management issued a communiqué to staff, saying they still hadn’t moved from their original position.
“MTN has not entered into any agreement with the CWU. The union recently sent proposals which MTN still finds unacceptable,” said MTN HR executive Themba Nyathi.
The company stood by its bonus payment offers of 4 percent payment in December 2015, 8 percent payment in March 2016 and 4 percent payment in December 2016.
The union wants the mobile operator to increase bonus payments by 8 percent, employ casual labour permanently, and increase salaries by up to 16 percent.
Cosatu unions aligned to the CWU threatened a secondary strike if the company does not give in to workers’ demands.
“We say to MTN, stop deferring decisions to others outside the country and start behaving as a responsible South African employer unless you want to be a target of a concerted trade union campaign that will not only undermine the reputation of MTN in this country, but across the continent, and the world,” the unions threatened in a statement.
Labour Bureau