Only about three dozen striking MultiChoice call centre staffers pitched on Monday for a public protest at MultiChoice City at the pay-TV operator's headquarters in Randburg, Johannesburg on the second day of a strike that the Information Communication Technology Union (ICTU) on Thursday last week warned would be a "historic strike".
Monday's fizzled out protest followed after Friday's strike action that saw tyres being burnt, the police called, extra security guards being deployed and the gates that were locked as MultiChoice call centre staffers embarked on an unexpected and unprotected strike.
The ICTU on Monday in a statement said that striking workers have been issued with disciplinary notices.
In June 2019 MultiChoice announced that it was planning to fire up to 2 194 of its workers as part of a massive retrenchment plan to get rid of thousands of staffers in its call centre division and walk-in centres because the Randburg-based pay-TV operator is restructuring its "customer service delivery model".
MultiChoice at the time said the "realignment" had to be made because of the "changing behaviour of customers, who are increasingly moving away from traditional voice calls and visits to Walk-in Centres and adopting new self-service and digital technologies to engage with the company".
On Friday the ITCU in a statement slammed MultiChoice after workers went on strike, saying in a statement that the strike would continue on Monday and that "today, 23 August MultiChoice South Africa has deployed a lunatic, charlatan of the highest order Nonhlanhla Sibanda, to intimidate and harass workers and tell them that they will be dismissed with immediate effect if they join the strike".
MultiChoice in response to a media enquiry said that "MultiChoice is disappointed at the call for a strike by the ICTU".
