MTN Nigeria has embarked on massive sack of employees in preparation for the Managed Services (MS) scheduled to kick off March 01, 2014. Close to 100 MTN staff have been sacked in the last couple of weeks and a lot more are to follow in the coming weeks. The staff involved have put in most of their career life in MTN Nigeria and feel the way and manner the company is parting with their hardworking and loyal staff is the most wicked disengagement of the century by such a global organization.
The staff concern is not really that MTN Nigeria is disengaging their workers over flimsy excuses but rather the severance package is nothing to write home about. An eleven (11) year old staff, who is as old as the company, is been paid just a month salary of less than N500,000.00 for sticking to a company for that long.
The company rightly claim that what is provided for by the constitution is 1 month salary and therefore staff should be happy at the generosity of the company – Wicked Slavery by South Africans on so called giant of Africa. One however begins to wonder if it is not the same Labour Law that Shell, Chevron, Agip and other blue chip company use in appreciating and parting ways with their own staff. Let us assume that the staff house rent is just due, this implies you either pay 1 year house rent with the so called severance pay and go on hunger strike or you move to a one room apartment at the most remote part of Lagos to ensure you at least have food for the next couple of weeks depending on the size of your family members and other dependents.
Let’s not forget that MTN Nigeria is not a one man business or even a big company that is going bankrupt. This is a company that rakes in monthly revenue/earnings equivalent to what the biggest bank in Nigeria will struggle to make in almost 2 years. Yet it will always paint a picture of decline in revenue as if they expected other GSM companies to remain asleep forever.
They seem to have forgotten the huge astronomical revenue boom they enjoyed while Airtel was having its crisis, while etisalat was chasing its license and struggling to get things right, while Glo was also struggling with its own challenges. MTN Nigeria became the envy of the global market as they moved from a mere South African GSM struggling operator to pride itself among global leaders courtesy of Nigerian Market. The earnings made from the Nigerian Market alone made it possible for MTN to launch into so many African and Asian/Middle East Markets.
Yet the only way to appreciate Nigerians and workers is to frustrate them out of job and ensure they go home with nothing.
The top Management ensured that Labour Union is not formed within the company because they know from day one that a day like this will come. Instead they formed an Employee Council that was so manipulated by the Top Management.
This is where Nigerian Labour Congress needs to live up to expectation. As workers they should understand the manipulative tendencies of employers and ensure all blue chip companies join Labour Unions to secure the interest of workers. MTN workers are therefore calling on NLC and of course the Federal Government to act now to save the already bad unemployment position of her citizens as dependent family members and friends will definitely suffer. It is not a must that staff will remain employed in a company forever but there should be a more sensible and humane way to part ways. No form of staff/management negotiation was done. Sounds laughable in this century.
To understand how tricky and wicked the company is they took a number of steps to pave way for this:
A. They restructured the staff salary by reducing the basic salary of every staff. They claimed this was to reduce the tax impact which was all lies. They only want the multiplication factor of the Severance pay to appear attractive.
B. They ensured the Management Services transition period ends Feb 2014 just a month before the yearly Bonus payment to workers because they do not want staff to receive Bonus in March 2014. Note that the Bonus is for 2013 financial (1st Jan 2013 to 31st Dec 2013) year but is usually paid in March of the next year. However, the company’s tricky, apartheid, wicked policy says you must be in the employment of the company as at the month of Bonus Payment. Therefore a clever thing to do is to transfer employment to the Vendor Company (that is for staff that will survive the Tsunami sack that is still ongoing) just before the Bonus month.
C. They transferred the former South African MTN Nigeria CEO, Brett Goshen and brought in a Nigerian, Michael Ikpoki, to replace him as the new CEO. This was a trick used to deceive President Goodluck Jonathan and his government. Of course as expected the President went online to celebrate the gesture. Poor President did not realize that it was just a strategy well plotted to give him the false impression that his citizen and kinsman is been celebrated. Poor CEO, Michael Ikpoki, who is quite ambitious and enjoying the luxury of his office has no choice but to become a handy tool in the hands of the South African owners. Of course the poor CTO, Lynda Nwafor Saint Obi who is equally ambitious and enjoying the luxury of office has no choice but to work hand in hand with Michael Ikpoki to arrogantly remind their staff that they are doing them a favour by taking food off their table always quoting the Labour Law of Nigeria.
D. MTN Group has ensured that some small percentage of the company share is sold to some highly placed persons in Nigeria. Part of the bribing strategy the company used even in Iran, as alleged. It is equally suspected that the company has bribed their way to the government. We do not want to believe the bribing of Labour leaders as this is unfounded speculation.
We call on the National Assembly to act fast and amend the Labour Law. It is acceptable that all companies cannot be treated the same way in the Labour Law. Companies can be categorized based on financial strength, staff strength, foreign or national, etc. MTN has made and is still making huge earnings in Nigeria and should not be allowed to just fly money out of this country without fulfilling their obligation to the staff. NLC and FG need to call the MTN madness to order. We cannot keep claiming we are improving on employment when it appears citizens are losing jobs by same amount.
If the company can treat their faithful staff in this manner only God knows what the new Vendor, Ericsson will do to their staff. It is embarrassing that 10 year old staff can barely get 5million from a company he devoted his time to for that long. The job security with the new vendor will even be worse as their will be no guarantee after 1 year with the Vendor. Staffs believe they are simply using the trick of the MS Vendor to eventually get rid of as many staff as possible. The Airtel experience will end up a child’s play to what these south Africans intend to do.

Eeyha, sorry about this.

But i think , there's no going back on the restructuring, it' better to allign before being left out.

Some , Nigerians have not given good account of themselves due to unimaginable level of corruption.

You are aware of the GM CPG that was sacked a year ago , after N1.3 Billion was found in his account. Some many guys in MTN loot Billions yearly from the coffers of this company.
No shareholder will allow this to continue, the solution is to outsource all the loop holes and focus on planning, and other revenue accruing units.

Unfortunately , when this like this happen , some clean guys will suffer along

its well bros......MOD front page pls

[quote author=shehubros post=20752663]
MTN Nigeria has embarked on massive sack of employees in preparation for the Managed Services (MS) scheduled to kick off March 01, 2014. Close to 100 MTN staff have been sacked in the last couple of weeks and a lot more are to follow in the coming weeks.


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