MTN must reinstate workers

Johannesburg - MTN [JSE:MTN] has been ordered to reinstate nine employees dismissed in September 2010, the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) said on Friday.

The cellphone operator was also ordered to pay 12 months' compensation, the union said following the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration's order.

"The company had summarily dismissed the nine workers because it claimed that they had misled the company into believing that they were members of CWU, even though they were not, and that they subsequently benefited fraudulently in wages paid to them in April, May, and June 2010."

The company "blacklisted" the workers, preventing them from finding other work in the industry.

CWU challenged the dismissal, and the commission ordered on Monday that all but two, who no longer wanted to work for MTN, should be reinstated.

MTN could not immediately comment on the case.

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