Fin24 reports that National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) shop stewards from around the country learned on Wednesday that they would be barred from attending the union's national conference next week.

According to an internal letter dated 20 July 2022 from Numsa’s general secretary Irvin Jim, 26 shop stewards will be subjected to the union's disciplinary proceedings. This comes after 31 officials were suspended last week, including the union's second deputy president, Ruth Ntlokotse. The suspensions and bans come ahead of the elective conference, set to take place in Cape Town. Ntlokotse was elected president of Numsa's umbrella federation, the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) at its national congress in May, against the wishes of Numsa leaders, according to her. In Wednesday's letter, Jim said the special central committee (SCC) decided that members who were part of the union's delegation to the Saftu congress should be subjected to an internal disciplinary process for attempting to disrupt that meeting. Jim said the Numsa delegates acted in "open defiance" of the union's mandate at the Saftu conference. Of the 27 shop stewards being disciplined, 18 are being disciplined for disruptions at the Saftu conference while nine are being disciplined for organising a march in April to protest the Numsa central committee decision to put the union's Ekurhuleni and Mpumalanga regions under administration. Ntlokotse has approached the Labour Court for urgent relief, asking that the court declare her suspension invalid or halt the conference from taking place until the nature of disputes behind recent suspensions at Numsa is investigated and established.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24
• Read too, Fears that infighting in Numsa could lead to another schism, at The Citizen

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page