ANA reports that Solidarity said in a statement on Thursday it was pleased that the courts had ruled against the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union’s (Amcu’s) agency fee agreement with Lonmin at its Marikana operations.  

The trade union reported that a coalition between itself, Uasa and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) had succeeded in obtaining an urgent interdict against Amcu’s agreement with Lonmin that permitted it to recover fees from employees who were not Amcu members.  The agreement signed on 24 April allowed a deduction of 1% up to a maximum of R200.  The court ruled that the agreement, which came into effect from 1 June, was unlawful, and that all money deducted from employees had to be paid back to them.  “We are, of course, delighted with the ruling because our view that the agency fee agreement was unlawful has now been affirmed by the court.  This also means that all the hard-earned money already deducted from employees must be paid back.  As such it is a victory for all the employees,” commented Anton van der Bijl, head of Labour Law Services at Solidarity.  He added that the victory was the “cherry on the cake” after Solidarity, as part of the coalition, regained its organisational rights on 12 November 2018.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly
• Read Solidarity’s press statement at Polity

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