Information reaching GhanaNewsPage.Com is that French telecom giant, Orange will take over the management of Tigo and Airtel after the merger of the two companies.
The telecom giant is expected to take over the management of the new telco by 2019 when the two go to the NCA to renew their licenses.
It is expected that Orange telecom will rename the brand, ORANGE after the takeover.
Ahead of the possible takeover, a highly placed source in the telco industry whispered to GhanaNewsPage.Com that a new name for the merged Tigo and Airtel brands will be put out officially on November 10, 2017.
Some workers of the company revealed that the newly named CEO of the merged company, Roshi Motman, informed them at their maiden joint meeting with management recently that the set date for the launch is November 10, 2017.
“Roshi told us the new name of the company will be announced officially on November 10, 2017; she also told us she is not sure the new name will be Orange,” one junior manager revealed.
Similar meetings were held with workers across the regions.
A highly-placed source in the company, who pleaded anonymity, also confirmed what the workers said.
Orange
It had earlier been speculated that French telecom giant, Orange, was going to take over the merged Tigo-Airtel and rename the brand Orange.
Even though it is still not clear what new name will be announced next month, reliable sources still maintain that Orange will take over when telcos in the country go for the renewal of licenses upon expiry in 2019, which is just two years away.
Meanwhile, at that maiden meeting, workers of both companies were captured in a hearty and energetic mood, as they relish the moment of being part of a historic feat in Ghana’s telecoms industry – the merger.
The company is now in the process of forming a management team to build respective teams of the merged telcos to run affairs as a unit.
Redundancy
Outside of the joy of being part of history, some workers are still anxious about the security of their jobs, as they have been asked to re-apply, go through an aptitude test and interviews to qualify for jobs with the merged company.
Some have hinted they wanted to opt for voluntary retrenchment because of the re-application directive.
They say the new measure means their relationship with their respective employers (Airtel or Tigo) has ended so they want to take their redundancy packages and ‘run’.
Workers allege the company is subtly trying to prevent voluntary redundancy by asking everyone to re-apply so that those who do not qualify would be treated as failed applicants and not as people who have completed a run and deserve redundancy packages.
Labour Law
Section 65 (2) of the Labour Act, Act 651, 2003 states in part that in the event of amalgamation (merger), where the merger causes severance (termination) of the legal relationship of worker and employer as it existed immediately before the merger, and leads to the worker becoming unemployed or suffers any diminution in the terms and conditions of employment, the worker is entitled to be paid by the undertaking at which that worker was immediately employed prior to the merger a compensation referred to as “redundancy pay”.
Subsection (4) says the amount of redundancy pay and the terms and conditions of payment are matters which are subject to negotiation between the employer or a representative of the employer on the one hand and the worker or the trade union concerned on the other.
“Any dispute that concerns the redundancy pay and the terms and conditions of payment may be referred to the National Labour Commission by the aggrieved party for settlement, and the decision of the Commission shall subject to any other law be final,” Sub-section 5 stated.
Fairness assured
But a highly-placed source at Tigo-Airtel has told Adom News that the new CEO is a “people person” and would never allow anyone to leave the company without getting their due redundancy package.
