ANA reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) said on Friday it was shocked and dismayed by the Department of Labour's (DoL’s) intention to deregister the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).  

The department advised earlier last week that it had given notice to cancel Amcu’s registration, accusing it of not complying with its own constitution.  "We ... reject – with the contempt it deserves – that a democratic government, instead of working with the unions to overcome whatever challenges that confront Amcu, its first stated intention is to come out guns blazing, making its intention clear that it wants to deregister the union," Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said.  She went on to state:  "Whilst Numsa understands that all unions need to be compliant with the DoL’s requirements, we have had experiences where the DoL should have been expected to act on particular affiliates but, instead, it moves at a snail’s pace.  We are not convinced that the DoL has exhausted its options in finding solutions between itself and Amcu."  The union added that the DoL’s "no-nonsense" attitude should also be applied to employers who did not comply with labour laws.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly
• Read Numsa’s press statement on this matter at Polity

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page