Labour Court grants interim interdict

MINING company Glencore won an interim interdict in the Labour Court on Wednesday against the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) conducting a secondary strike at its Optimum Coal mine. “Glencore will participate in the review process by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) as directed by the court to seek a lasting solution to this as well as the ongoing strike action at its Koornfontein operation,” spokesman Gugulethu Maqetuka said. In October, about 500 NUM members embarked on the strike at Glencore’s Koornfontein mine in Mpumalanga, at the mine’s Gloria shaft. The strike started after the company and NUM deadlocked at the CCMA. “This follows the decision by the company to offer retrenchment packages to employees as a result of restructuring at the mine, following difficult market conditions,” Maqetuka said at the time. “Glencore has undertaken to explore the redeployment of some of the employees to other Glencore Coal operations where vacancies exist.” The company was putting together support services for affected employees. Workers were being paid one week of service per year in severance pay, while at other operations they were being paid three weeks of service per year. – Sapa