CWU, MTN agree to 'engage' on call centres

The Communication Workers Union has withdrawn a court interdict to prevent MTN from outsourcing its call centre facilities.

Johannesburg - The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has withdrawn a court interdict to prevent MTN from outsourcing its call centre facilities.

The plan to outsource the call centres comes as the telecoms industry is cutting costs amid strong competition and as South Africa’s dwindling growth prospects put pressure on consumer spending.

MTN earlier this month unveiled plans to outsource some of its call centres to a third party, in a bid to rein in costs.

The CWU went to court to oppose the outsourcing of call centres amid fears that members would be retrenched.

CWU president Clyde Mervin said yesterday that both parties had agreed to “engage” on the outsourcing. “We agreed we that are going to have a proper consultation. If anything goes wrong during the talks, meaning if we do not find each other, we will exercise our rights and approach the Labour Court.”

Vindicated

In a statement yesterday, MTN said it believed it had been vindicated by the CWU’s decision to withdraw its interdict application and said the decision further affirmed that the company had conducted itself in a reasonable manner and had been engaging the employees in good faith.

“MTN will continue to maintain an open-door policy with the union on the matter, in order to reach an outcome that will benefit all the parties concerned, including our customers,” said Nhlanhla Qwabe, the chief human resources officer at MTN South Africa.

MTN earlier disclosed that it would adopt a hybrid outsource model, which would result in some of its call centres being outsourced to an experienced third-party vendor, while others were retained in-house.

The group said this move was aimed at optimising MTN operations and enhancing customer experience.

“The finalisation of this commercial undertaking will enable MTN to streamline its operations and focus on its core competencies, improve its ability to offer its customers a better customer value proposition and reduce operational costs,” the company said.

Sibonginkosi Nyanga, an equity research analyst at Momentum SP Reid, said the outsourcing was about cutting costs. “The industry is trying to rationalise costs and obviously the union will not be happy. The thinking around the withdrawal of the interdict is that there cannot be good negotiations when there is looming court case.”

MTN Group was fined $5.2 billion (about R75.1bn) by Nigeria for missing a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards.

Shares gained 0.18 percent yesterday to close at R120.20.

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