The meeting between COSATU, NUM and Impala
The Congress of South African Trade Unions and its affiliate NUM had a very disappointing meeting the management of Impala on 22ND Feb 2013.
The meeting was attended by very senior delegation of COSATU and NUM, taking the current situation in the mine seriously and management of Impala continued with its disrespecting and undermining the federation by sending junior management who have been in the forefront of leading the union-bashing against UNM.
It is confirmed by management of Impala that the downfall of NUM was and is still being led by the management of Impala, who agreed that they facilitated and developed forms for members to resign from the NUM and that the subscriptions of current members who still belong to NUM are being cancelled without them signing any form. This is a clear confirmation of union-bashing by management of Impala to protect the unruly conduct of some criminal elements that took place during the strike and after the strike in Feb 2012.
The management confirmed that they led the campaign against any worker seen associated with red T shirts, in particular NUM and COSATU, that some workers had to be given a package due to the lack of safety during working hours. It was clear that management had no policy to protect its workers against any threats or intimidation during working hours.
The management agreed to a verification process while they know that they have terminated the membership of NUM on their own, leading the union-bashing and facilitating the leadership package to leave the workplace as there are threats in recruiting members back to the union of their choice.
It is on record that the Impala management confirmed that they undermined all the policies and the laws of this country for protecting capitalism and their profits at the expense poor workers. They also agreed that they recruited the most senior police officials who were leading the arrest and investigation during the arrest of the unprotected strikes that took place in 2012 in the mining industry.
The management agreed that to take action on the outstanding 2500 workers who were dismissed and that the federation must provide a list of those who are still not reinstated.
The management refused to reopening the NUM office based on their recognition agreement between the mine and NUM and the matter is subject to a court ruling which is due on 1st of March 2013
As the federation we are still appealing to our own government to investigate the role of the police and the role of the mine bosses in these matters and that a full study must be done on the relationship of the police and Impala on these matters of union-bashing and criminal activities that took place in 2012.
We are also demanding that our government must do a full investigation on Impala undermining the policies and the laws of this country with the view of reviewing the licences of Impala in mining our country.
We are aware as workers and communities that Impala is busy leading a political agenda towards the national election in 2014 against the current political party which is associated with the poor working class.
We are proceeding our plan of action against Impala which will be in the form of march to Impala offices in the NW, with the support of traditional leaders, and communities around the Bojanala region, the ANC, SACP and SANCO.
Statement issued by COSATU North West provincial secretary Solly Phetoe, February 28 2013
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