The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) on Wednesday suspended the process of verifying union membership at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations, which it says is aimed at rendering the current strike action unprotected.

AMCU explained in a statement that it had filed papers with the Labour Court to appeal what it noted as an error contained in the Labour Court judgment, which would have considerably limited the scope of the verification.

The verification process, as ordered by the Labour Court, has been suspended, pending the outcome of AMCU’s application for leave to appeal a paragraph of the Labour Court judgment.

The basis of the appeal is to remedy a factual error in the wording of the judgment, according to AMCU.

It argues that the Judge erred by stating that the membership figures as at November 22, 2018, were common cause, while AMCU indicated that it had disputed this in its court papers.

The significance of this error is that it might limit the scope of the verification process and, therefore, prejudice members’ constitutional right to strike, said AMCU.

The Labour Court had earlier ordered the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to perform a membership verification at Sibanye’s gold operations.

This comes after Sibanye applied to the Labour Court to have its wage agreement with the National Union of Mineworkers, Solidarity and UASA, extended to AMCU’s members, stating that these unions represented the majority of employees at the miner’s gold operations.

AMCU, however, disputed the membership figures provided by Sibanye.

Sibanye countered in a statement that it was confident that the verification exercise would confirm that the unions that had signed the wage offer represent more than 50% of employees in the workplace, therefore supporting the extension of the offer in terms of Section 23(1)(d) of the Labour Relations Act.

It would oppose AMCU’s attempts to avoid the verification process, it added.

“We are disappointed that AMCU continues to pursue these obstructive actions and delay the conclusion of the ongoing strike, while its members are suffering severe financial hardship as a consequence. We are not surprised by AMCU’s behaviour and have considered other legal alternatives, which we will be pursuing,” Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman commented.

SAFTU SUPPORT

Meanwhile, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) on Wednesday declared its support for the striking mineworkers employed by Sibanye’s gold operations, as well as those who plan to support a secondary strike at the miner’s South African platinum operations, which is due to start next week.

Saftu called for unity among workers and an end to rivalry.

The federation also supported AMCU’s appeal against the Competition Tribunal’s approval of Sibanye’s proposed takeover of Lonmin, which the union says will put thousands of jobs at risk.

As part of the stringent conditions for the takeover, the tribunal levied a six-month moratorium on retrenchments, noting that the merger involved “massive public interest issues involving extensive job losses and impact in the platinum mining region of the North West”.

But Saftu noted its concern about what would happen after those six months.