(Reuters) – A strike over higher pay at South African mobile phone operator MTN Group stretched into its fourth week on Monday, disrupting the supply of some new mobile phones. The strike, the first to hit Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator since its formation in 1994, is forcing the company to turn away customers (because of supply shortages) hoping to buy mobile phones at some of its stores.
“We are due to meet MTN later this week but in the meantime the strike continues,” said Tshepo Matlau, a national organiser at the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU).
Themba Nyathi, MTN’s human resources head and the spokesman on the industrial action, was not available to comment.
Hundreds of entry level staff have rejected the company’s performance-related 8 percent pay increase, saying the offer should remove performance indicators. MTN, along with rivals Vodacom and Cell C in Africa’s most advanced economy, is trying to contain costs in the face of tough competition that has hit profit margins.
The company, which reported a 9 percent increase in full-year profit in March, employs about 6,500 people in its home market, where it trails rival Vodacom by subscribers. Shares in MTN, which have dropped by about 7 percent since the strike started on May 20, were off 0.42 percent at 220.08 rand.
- The JSE was closed Tuesday due to a national holiday, Youth Day.
