Johannesburg - MTN users have started to feel the effects of Wednesday’s strike by the mobile company’s workers.
Staffers at the company downed tools on Wednesday morning, blocking the entrance to MTN’s head office in Fairland.
The workers, represented by the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), are battling the company over wages.
Calls to the mobile operator’s call centre, which deals with customer queries, went unanswered. “The phone rang for over 30 minutes until I hung up,” said one user.
Independent Media has also learnt some managers had advised their subordinates to stay away from the 14th Avenue office, where protesters turned over a bin, blocking one of the lanes going into the office park.
There was also a high police presence, with members of the Johannesburg Metro Police Department ensuring the striking workers kept their distance from the busy 14th Avenue road. But some lanes on the road leading onto the N1 highway were occupied by cars as the visitors’ parking was reserved for picketing.
The workers, who vary from call centre agents to IT technicians, are demanding 10-percent salary increases, the conversion of temporary staff to permanent and 16-percent bonus payments.
The company implemented a unilateral five-percent wage increase for all staff in March and promised them 13th cheques in December. However, the CWU is adamant the company can afford to pay more. They cited the company’s excuse that their failure to generate projected profits in the past financial year has affected increases as insignificant.
Labour Bureau