This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
Fin24 reports that Judge Dennis Davis on Friday dismissed an appeal by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), which wanted the Competition Tribunal’s approval for a merger between Sibanye-Stillwater and Lonmin to be set aside.
The Tribunal had approved the merger with conditions in November last year, but Amcu appealed the decision over what it said would be the resulting massive job losses. The deal will see Sibanye acquire Lonmin for R5.17bn, and has already received the approval of several regulatory bodies. Amcu claimed that the merger should either be prohibited due to the potential for significant job losses or that the six-month moratorium on retrenchments, set as a condition by the Tribunal, be extended to 24 months. Davis, however, found that while the courts should not "play dice" with the welfare of workers - especially in a country with high unemployment - the public interest in preventing job losses had to be balanced by the public interest justifying it. He concluded that, notwithstanding transient fluctuations in the price of platinum group metals and currency fluctuations, Lonmin's continued existence was in jeopardy and the number of job losses that Sibanye and Lonmin projected as a result of the merger was rational. "At best, Lonmin would continue to 'tread water', that is, if it was not placed into business rescue, which, if it occurred, would hold significant risk for 32,000 jobs," said Davis.
- Read the full original of Carin Smith’s report on the ruling at Fin24
- Read too, Sibanye, Lonmin merger enters final stretch as Amcu appeal is dismissed, at Mining Weekly
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page