ANA reports that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) on Wednesday accused Sibanye-Stillwater of trying to interdict its protected strike, saying the company had tried underhand tactics to discredit the labour action from the outset.  

On Tuesday, Sibanye filed an application at the Labour Court in Johannesburg for an interdict to prevent members of Amcu from continuing with their wage strike.  Almost 15,000 workers affiliated to Amcu have been on a protected wage strike since 21 November at Sibanye's local gold operations.  Sibanye currently employs approximately 32,200 people at its SA gold operations, with Amcu representing about 43% of employees in the bargaining unit.  In court, Amcu accused Sibanye's management of recruiting members for rival unions in a bid to diminish the union's bargaining power.  According to Sibanye, Amcu no longer represents the majority of workers at its gold operations as the three other unions concerned, namely the NUM, Solidarity and Uasa, now have a collective 49% representation in the bargaining unit.  But, Amcu’s lawyers questioned the authenticity of the audit results presented by Sibanye and opposed the application based on the manner management and the auditing firm they used conducted the membership audit.  Judgment has been reserved and the strike will continue.

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