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On October 30-31, twenty union representatives from 11 African countries gathered in the Silversprings hotel in Nairobi to participate in the second MTN Trade Union Alliance meeting. The MTN TU Alliance was launched around two years ago in Lagos (Nigeria). Participants exchanged information about the union and membership situation in MTN, heard presentations by UNI Telecom HOD Marcus Courtney on UNI Telecom strategies as well as by Nadine Rae (UNI organiser in India) planning of organising campaigns. Representatives from Vodacom (SA) described the union fight for recognition in South Africa. UNI Telecom Africa President Gabou Gueye talked about the France Telecom global framework agreement and encouraged participants to strengthen union presence in MTN in order to be able to start negotiating the GFA for this multinational.

Pictured above (L-R): Marcus Courtney (UNI Telecom HOD), Dominic Saint Jean (Telcom Kenya CEO),

Gabou Gueye (UNI-Telecom Africa President), Benson Okwaro (COWU Kenya President)

The CEO of Telcom Kenya Mr. Dominic Saint Jean addressed the meeting emphasising the importance of the social dialogue. The majority of shares in Telcom Kenya is owned by France Telecom.



Participants worked in groups discussing how to improve organising on the local level and which strategies to use when recruiting more MTN employees.

After the MTN meeting, participants continued working in a workshop on organising in call centres and visited 2 call centres on November 1. The meeting was financed by F.Ebert Foundation (Germany) and LO-TCO Biståndsnämnd (Sweden).

A French-speaking group discusses organising strategies

MTN Group is a South Africa-based multinational mobile telecommunications company, operating in many African and Middle Eastern countries.