The Communication Workers Union (CWU) will embark on strike action at mobile operator Vodacom on Monday, after it served the company with a 48-hour strike notice.
The action was sparked by a dispute between the CWU and Vodacom, in which the union accused the mobile provider of refusing to recognise it as a representative labour organisation within the company and of denying it its "organisational rights".
According to CWU spokesman Mfanafuthi Sithebe, Vodacom considers the action illegal and will apply for an interdict from the Labour Court, even though the union was issued a strike certificate by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). Sithebe says this is because of an agreement created between the union and the company in 1999.
The company says the CWU agreed in a mutual co-operation agreement with Vodacom, at the CCMA, on a representative rate of around 30% of employees, but Sithebe says the agreement was only signed by the Western Cape section and does not apply to Vodacom as a whole.
Sithebe says that Vodacom has asked the CCMA to prescribe the rules for a proposed picket during the strike, which, according to the Labour Relations Act, should be agreed on between the union and the company involved.
Vodacom maintains: "The CWU has representation of less than 10% and not the agreed threshold of 30%, which would qualify them to enter into a collective agreement."
The company confirmed that it received the strike notice, but would not comment further.
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