Trade union Solidarity said the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) should facilitate telecommunication group MTN’s planned retrenchments.
Solidarity head of the communications Marius Croucamp noted in a statement that MTN should engage an “objective” party, such as the CCMA, to facilitate the process, despite the “willingness” of the mobile operator to lessen the impact of the process on employees.
Solidarity was “cautiously optimistic” of the development of a “new working relationship” and that “proper consultation” could take place.
This followed a meeting between the parties on Monday over MTN’s plans to retrench up to 850 employees.
The union expected MTN to respond to its request to involve the CCMA this week.
“There is even a possibility that MTN may extend the consultation period of the retrenchment process, but this has not been officially confirmed yet,” Croucamp said.
This had followed a rocky start after Solidarity claimed that MTN initially failed to give Solidarity sufficient time to consult properly over the layoffs and neglected to invite Solidarity to consult over the retrenchment process.