Letters were served to MTN's employees‚ notifying them of the layoffs last week, ironically at a timewhen the group had added about R54bn to its market capitalisation.
Solidarity said MTN could retrench as many as 847 of its managers‚ but the union would contest the decision, adding that the mobile operator must try other cost-saving measures before embarking on retrenchments.
MTN denied that 847 people were in the firing line. A senior executive said only half of that number could be affected‚ but the company was still consulting before reaching the final decision on the number of layoffs.
MTN is the second telecommunications company to announce it is retrenching staff after Telkom said it was planning to cut jobs. Telkom is undergoing a major restructuring exercise that includes retrenchment of staff that could see 2‚600 jobs being axed.Telkom employs more than 19‚000 people and this would be its third round of retrenchments in five years.
Solidarity spokesman Marius Croucamp said: "Our focus is to represent our members. They (MTN) have agreed to meet with us. We need to know the context of these retrenchments and see if we cannot find alternatives because layoffs should be the last resort."
MTN, which operates in 22 countries, has 6‚196 employees in its South Africa business.
MTN South Africa's Chief Human Resource Officer Themba Nyathi said the retrenchments were in line with an announcement made this month by group President Sifiso Dabengwa.
"As part of this process‚ and as announced in our interim results‚ MTN South Africa will continue to review its cost structures‚ including employee costs‚ to ensure better alignment with revenue performance and the changing needs of the business and our clients‚" Nyathi said.
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