Last month, MultiChoice revealed its plans to retrench over 2,000 jobs in its call centres, now on our latest update, we can safely reveal that the Information Communication and Technology Union (ICTU) has announced its intention to challenge MultiChoice’s retrenchments in court.
Related Reading: MultiChoice to Lay off 2,194 Staff in SA
The union labeled the retrenchments as “unlawful” and said that MultiChoice has been served with a letter to stop “forcing” employees to take voluntary severance packages, arguing that these packages were not negotiated and agreed upon by the ICTU.
“On more than four occasions, ICTU has warned MultiChoice to abandon their shenanigan strategies of back-door retrenchments and discuss things as prescribed by Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act,” the union said.
The ICTU also accused MultiChoice of intimidating employees into taking severance packages via a “Red List” strategy, which it said discriminates against call centre employees based on their performance.
“This desperate measures serves to confirm that MultiChoice careless about its employees wellbeing [sic],” the union said.