Business Report writes that Denel has been backed into a corner after the Labour Court dismissed the state-owned arms manufacturer’s tactics for further payment delays to members of union Uasa.
This after an urgent court application was brought by Uasa against Denel in April to honour all outstanding contractual obligations and effect payment of full remuneration to Uasa members. Judge Andre van Niekerk ruled that Uasa’s application be postponed to the matter set down on the unopposed court roll for 26 July, irrespective of whether Denel opposed the application or not. Denel was ordered to provide updated outstanding remuneration amounts for May and June 2022, which would be included in Uasa’s claim, by 14 July. Uasa intends to get a compliance notice to force Denel to pay all outstanding salaries and statutory payments, reported to be around R830,000 owing to workers since August 2020. Judge Van Niekerk’s ruling required that all the updated figures, including the May and June figures, be verified so that if accepted by the court, execution would be expedited. Denel’s argument that the employees should grant it an opportunity to restructure before making payments was rejected in terms of the ruling. Debt-ridden Denel took a body blow last month when the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ordered it to pay R13.2 million in outstanding salaries to 42 non-unionised current and former employees. Denel was ordered to pay, within 10 days, amounts ranging between R55,000 and R700,000 in unpaid wages for the period between May 2020 and April 2022.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Banele Ginindza on page 10 of Business Report of 6 June 2022
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