MTL plots to fire hundreds

Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) plans to retrench at least half of its 740 workforce, according to insiders and documents that Nation on Sunday has seen.

The development has sent shivers down the spines of workers—most of whom now fear for their jobs and the attendant loss of livelihood.

“Layoffs are never pleasurable even under the best of circumstances. Since we heard the news, morale has dropped and the feeling is that of anxiety because it’s pretty tough to swallow sudden loss of employment,” said one of the workers, a technician who spoke on condition of anonymity.

At the highest risk, said another well-placed source, are positions in the technical and marketing departments.

MTL—a subsidiary of dual-listed conglomerate Press Corporation Limited (PCL)—is reportedly suffocating under the weight of dwindling revenues as cut-throat competition in the local telecommunications industry stiffens and gnaws at its market share.

Said the well-placed source: “For instance, during the first quarter of this year, the company projected revenue of K3.8 billion but failed to attain it by 41 percent. It managed to make just K2.4 billion.”

According to documents, initial discussions about the offloading of some workers started on April 7 2014 during a meeting between the company’s management and the board.

The following day, management summoned members of MTL Workers Union to notify them about the impending layoff and other measures the company has taken to dig itself out of the financial hole.

A memo from MTL Workers Union to members of staff on the board meeting’s outcome we have seen says besides shedding some workers, the meeting also approved a reduction of the company’s fleet of vehicles with 21 to cut costs.

“There is going to be restructuring at commercial and retrenchment in other departments and this exercise is expected to end in June 2014. The implementation timeline is being worked on and shall be communicated to the union in due course,” reads the memo dated April 9 2014 and signed by the union’s secretary general Nick Kajombo.

In the communication, workers are further notified that the meeting also agreed to restructure all grades and that they be “awarded a notch to appreciate our effort in striving to turn around the company.”

The memo says the union has since engaged management into bipartite negotiations to work on how best to implement the process that has left majority of employees gloomy.

MTL’s action is also confirmed in another confidential memo from its acting chief executive officer Stanley Mkwamba, which says the layoff is, among other reasons, a response to the “changing telecommunications market”.

Mkwamba says the retrenchment will affect all divisions and currently the company is finalising with divisional heads, the different jobs and positions to be deemed surplus to requirements and the new positions to be created.

In the Mkwamba memo dated April 16 2014, MTL management has, however, backed its decision, saying the process is aimed at achieving greater efficiency and reducing operational costs besides adapting to the changing telecommunications market.

Reads the memo in part: “The restructuring itself will follow a transparent process of selection based on performance and suitability for the job. For example, where we have 10 technicians and we need five in the new structure, the top five high performers will be retained and the rest will be eligible for retrenchment.

“All employees are encouraged to apply for newly-created positions or positions whose job descriptions have changed for which they feel qualified. Selection for these positions will be done on the basis of job performance, experience, qualifications and interview.”

The company further says employees may also wish to voluntarily be retrenched although management shall have discretion to accept their applications.

“Management, at its own discretion, will endeavor to absorb qualified and hardworking employees into suitable vacant positions that may be available in the organisation.

“However, in the event of failing to find alternative positions for employees whose job has been made redundant or whose job description has changed and they are found not fit for the new job, management will be left with no choice but to declare those affected redundant and eligible,” it reads.

The retrenched members of staff will, however, receive the following terminal dues: payment of salary for the last month of employment, payment of salary in lieu of applicable notice, payment of accrued days in lieu of leave and payment of severance allowance calculated according to the Employment Act.

They will also be paid K50 000 in lieu of transport to their respective homes or requested for actual transport and their pension contribution will be treated according to the Pensions Act.

But some workers who spoke to Nation on Sunday last week said the company’s suggestion of voluntary exit had no takers at the time of its deadline on Wednesday, April 23.

This, said the workers, means that the company will have to go into obligatory retrenchment.

In a telephone interview on Friday, Kajombo declined to shed more light on the matter, saying it was premature for him to comment as the process was still in its initial stage.

“The process has just started and there isn’t much progress, so I can’t say much now because we need to look at the issue broadly and not on a particular concept,” he said.

The last time MTL retrenched employees was in 2012 when 22 individuals were rendered jobless.

MTL management was not immediately available for comment.