SOUTH Africa’s Labour Appeal Court has dismissed an application by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) to appeal an interdict preventing a strike by the union at gold producers at which it is not in the majority, said BDLive citing a statement from the country’s Chamber of Mines (CoM).
The Chamber of Mines, on behalf of producers AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold and Sibanye Gold, welcomed the outcome on Thursday as “in the best interests of both employees and the industry”. AMCU, which could not immediately be reached for comment, was waiting on the judgment before embarking on a possible protected strike at Sibanye, said BDLive.
In a previous round of negotiations, the CoM had gone to court in 2014 seeking a prohibition of a strike by AMCU, which maintained it should have a right to strike at mines where it had a majority, even if it did not have a majority at company level.
The court ruled in favour of producers, which AMCU then appealed.
