Vodacom to face strike

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 14 February 2007

Vodacom  can expect to face the onslaught of unhappy workers after talks with the labour union CWU (Communications Workers Union) and the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) ended in a stalemate.

CWU staged a small picket outside CCMA offices on Thursday after the CCMA cleared the way for protected industrial action. A small picket because only a few members of an expected 2000 participated. CWU alleged that ‘poor communication on its behalf as well as sabotage by Vodacom’ (Strike hovers over Vodacom, Siwane and Jones, 12 February 2007) lead to the participation of only 20 of its members. Vodacom spray-canned some of the allegations as "unsubstantiated and untruthful".

CWU also accused Vodacom ‘of refusing to recognise the body as a representative labour organisation within the company and denying it its organisational rights’ (Strike hovers over Vodacom, 12 February 2007).

Can we expect to see mass strike action?

Yes and No. What might look like limited industrial action aimed at only Vodacom may turn into a proverbial ‘monster’ that might go after all the mobile operators.

According to CWU spokesman, Mfanafuthi Sithebe, they “will explore a legal opinion and consult Cosatu, alliance partners and other unions in Africa – in order to implement phase two of the programme [mass strike action] against workers' abuse by mobile operators in SA and the entire Africa” (Strike hovers over Vodacom, Siwane and Jones, 12 February 2007). In other words, it’s clear that CWU wants to see mass strike action not only aimed at Vodacom.

At this stage it’s unclear whether Cosatu and others will support them in this endeavour. The fact that CWU wants to bring the fight to more mobile operators can be deemed as a very clever strategy. Cosatu and others will be more willing to mobilize their forces when the attack is broader based.

ADSL South Africa(Broadband South Africa) will not make the mistake of taking sides in this regard because we believe sinister forces are at work behind the scenes. You may call it a ‘conspiracy theory’ if you like.