Theto Mahlakoana
TELECOMS giant MTN is mulling over a wage deal with the Communications Workers Union (CWU) as the strike by the union enters its fifth week.
The union said it awaited feedback from MTN after submitting a mutually agreed upon settlement agreement.
But they were worried as the company has delayed responding to their proposal by a week. CWU general secretary, Aubrey Tshabalala, said compromises had been made on both sides.
“We demanded 12 percent bonus pay, the company said they’d offer 8 percent and we found it reasonable to drop 4 points down. On the question of employment of casual workers, they agreed they would give them permanent positions. The slight contestation was on salary increases.”
If MTN signs the deal, they would have to sideline plans to completely outsource some of its units. The company had signed off on the plan, citing the strike as motivation for cutting off labour commitments.
MTN is yet to disclose how much it has lost due to service disruptions as a result of the strike, but the company has undoubtedly made losses. But so have workers who still brave the cold after missing out on their June salaries to protest outside company offices daily.
The no-work-no-pay policy applied to the industrial action, and workers who have engaged in the action since day one have lost close to five weeks in salaries.
MTN human resources executive, Themba Nyathi, warned workers last week about the devastating effects of staying away from work, emphasising losses to provident fund and medical aid contributions. But CWU’s Tshabalala said they wanted the mobile operator to make up its mind.
“It’s a one page settlement agreement, I don’t think it should take executives an entire week to decide on one page with 7 clauses. The other issue is to finalise the issue of recognition agreement by 30 days.”
He appealed with MTN to be reasonable and bring an end to the strike.