Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - South African telecoms network operator MTN has been turning away customers hoping to buy mobile phones at some of its stores due to supply shortages caused by a labour dispute, sales staff told Reuters on Thursday.
Around 2 000 workers at the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have been on strike since May 20 over pay negotiations and the two sides remain deadlocked.
MTN has offered a performance-related 8% pay rise, while the CWU is demanding across-the-board increases.
As a result of the dispute there has been a limited number of mobile phones available for sale this week at MTN's store in Centurion and its shop in Johannesburg's Sandton City, staff said.
"We've been out of stock for almost two weeks now," an MTN sales assistant at the Sandton store told Reuters, asking not to be named.
"The strike has really affected us. Even the repair centre in Midrand is affected," he said.
MTN's Head of Human Resources Themba Nyathi confirmed that seven stores had been hit by supply shortages but said the bottleneck would soon be cleared.
"The company has put in place an alternative distribution route which will clear all backlogs. We should have no distribution teething challenges in the next 18 hours," Nyathi told Reuters.
All stores are now being filled with stock, Nyathi said, adding that striking workers had attacked sales representatives and petrol-bombed the generators at one of its warehouses.
MTN postponed its annual half-marathon charity run planned for Saturday, citing security risks posed by the strike, the first to hit the company since its formation in 1994.
Have you tried to buy a phone from MTN but been turned away? Tell us by clicking here.
