Mining Weekly reports that trade union Solidarity advised on Wednesday that it would be approaching the Labour Court on an urgent basis to obtain an interdict against the lock-out of its members at Sibanye-Stillwater’s SA gold mines.

This was indicated after Solidarity members received a notice informing them that they would be locked out of the workplace despite Solidarity’s acceptance of Sibanye’s wage offer and Sibanye negotiators having allegedly given an undertaking to the union that this would not happen. According to Solidarity, the move to lock out its members amounted to Sibanye “punishing and bullying its loyal employees”. It accused the company of having “lost its moral compass”. While Solidarity has accepted Sibanye’s wage offer, the National Union of Metalworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union have served a strike notice on Sibanye. While some reports indicate that a fourth union, Uasa, has also accepted the offer, other reports suggest that it is still involved in negotiations with the company. James Wellsted, spokesman for Sibanye-Stillwater, said the company was acting within its rights. “A certificate of non-resolution was issued by the CCMA enabling the coalition to issue us with a strike certificate. So we can also lock employees out. They (unions) chose to negotiate as a coalition.” Visser commented that the action taken by Sibanye was indicative of why the company was facing an unprecedented second consecutive strike following a previous strike in 2019, which he said was an indication of the company’s poor labour relations.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly
• Read too, Sibanye-Stillwater locks out employees from gold mines as curtain rises on wage strike, at Miningmx
• And also, Smaller unions threaten legal action over lockout at Sibanye-Stillwater, at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

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