The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) members working at Triple M, Reagetswe, and Newrak have suspended the strike at Newrak mining company following a general meeting.
NUMSA was successful in stopping an attempted to interdict the strike. The judge dismissed Newraks application for an interdict on Friday 24 June 2022 – with the judge saying the strike was lawful and ordered that Newrak must engage Implats to allow NUMSA to access the workplace. NUMSA has the right to represent workers inside Implats and hold meetings.
According to a statement, members agreed to suspend the strike at Newrak to allow for talks between the employer and the union to resolve these issues. A meeting was held with Newrak on Tuesday 28 June and the outcome of that meeting would determine whether the strike continued or not. The strike at Reagetswe and Triple M has been interdicted and therefore strikes at both these companies have been suspended as well with workers have returning to work.
CCMA intervention
NUMSA plans to approach the CCMA head office in Johannesburg to enforce the labour court order, ordering it to conduct verification at Reagetswe. The CCMA in Rustenburg failed to implement the order that was handed down last year June hence the application is being made at head office.
On 8 July 2022, the CCMA will conduct verification of NUMSA at Triple M. “This verification process is to deal with closed shop agreement which was imposed on workers without balloting taking place. The closed shop agreement has expired and we believe that NUMSA is the majority union,” the statement read.
The statement further highlighted the issue of organisational rights which was one of the main reasons members embarked on a strike. “The pay gap between permanent employees and contract workers is huge, and NUMSA is determined to fight to eradicate this neo-Apartheid wage gap created by Implats,” read the statement.
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