Engineering News reports that trade union Solidarity announced on Friday that state-owned defence industrial group Denel had paid it R4-million to cover the salary arrears of union members employed by Denel Dynamics and Denel Land Systems.
The union obtained a court order in March allowing it to seize some of Denel’s assets and Solidarity had arranged for the assets to be auctioned off on Friday. At that point, the company came up with the money, obviating the need for the auction. Solidarity’s chief executive Dr Dirk Hermann commented: “The payment of the salary money to Solidarity is a major victory for Solidarity and its members. Their salaries have been looted for more than a year while the state institution refused to fulfil its responsibilities. However, Solidarity refused to accept such laxity from the state and Denel and applied constant pressure in order to force Denel to comply with the court order that was made last year.” The R4-million payout only covers the salary arrears for the period May 2020 to July 2020, because that was the period specified in the court order, which was issued on 4 August, 2020. However, Solidarity has again taken Denel to court, regarding the salary arrears of members of the union who worked for the company from August 2020 until the present. This case will be heard in the Johannesburg Labour Court on 7 October. “It is a shame that we constantly have to go to court simply to force an organisation to pay its own employees’ salaries,” said Hermann.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
- Read Solidarity’s press statement on this matter at Solidarity News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page