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Johannesburg - South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday it would hold a mass meeting with its members who are on a wildcat strike at a Northam Platinum [JSE:NHM] operation to decide if the stoppage will continue.
NUM's Northam branch chair Joseph Moloko told Reuters the meeting would begin at 14:00. The company said on Wednesday the workers could face dismissal if they did not return to work and served the union with a court order to stop the strike.
The strike began on Tuesday night when over 5 000 workers downed tools at Northam's Zondereinde mine demanding the removal of chief executive Paul Dunne for what the union alleges is unfair hiring and firing practices.
Moloko said the union would study the court order with members and respond by the required date of Monday, January 19.
Following the court interdict over 40% of the shift complement of
some 4 600 people reported for the morning shift at the mine on Thursday, Northam said in a Sens announcement.
"Management has provided those remaining striking employees with a final
opportunity to return to work by 16 January 2015 failing which
disciplinary measures will be instituted as provided for in the Labour
Court's interdict declaring the strike to be unprotected. This
disciplinary process may include dismissal," the company said.
The wider platinum industry is still recovering from a sometimes violent five-month strike last year by NUM's arch rival Amcu, which hit Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin, the world's top producers.
Court order
The Labour Court has granted an interim interdict to end the unprotected strike at the Northam Zondereinde mine in Limpopo NUM said on Wednesday.
The industrial action began with the night shift on Tuesday.
READ: Northam Platinum hit by wildcat strike
"Zondereinde management is seeking to engage with representatives of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in an effort to understand the cause of the industrial action, and to expeditiously resolve the matter," the company said in a statement earlier on Wednesday.
Complaints included claims that workers on sick leave were not being paid in accordance with policy.
At a meeting on Wednesday morning, workers complained that the company's recruitment policy had been compromised when a white man was appointed to an "official position" without the post having been advertised.
Northam said: "Management has communicated with employees, and has sought an urgent application to the Labour Court for the action to be declared unprotected, and requiring employees to return to work".
Reacting to the company's decision to approach the court, Tantsi said: "It is their legal right to do so but we are calling on them not to hide behind technicalities.
