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Numsa slams deregistration claims

Johannesburg - Numsa denied reports on Thursday that it was going to be deregistered as a union by the labour department.

"The [union] feels extremely angry, dismayed and provoked by the allegation...," National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) general secretary Irvin Jim told reporters in Johannesburg.

He said the union had answered all queries about its submission with the department of labour on Wednesday.

It received a letter from the department with minor queries early in August. From this it emerged that the department thought Numsa was auditing its national and regional accounts separately.

"We have given them proof that Numsa is a national union and therefore our national account is inclusive of regional expenditure," Jim said.

He said this was a minor issue which could have been resolved over the telephone.

The union had also been asked for its 2010 audit, as the department had only a draft version.

"We have accounted for all their queries," he said.

"Such a process could have been done without creating a big, wrong perception about Numsa, and in our view their reliance on a registered post mail was extremely bureaucratic."

The Sowetan reported on Wednesday that most Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) affiliates had not submitted audited financial statements and membership figures since 2009, in contravention of the Labour Relations Act.

It reported that only two Cosatu unions had complied with the act, which requires unions to submit audited financial statements, membership figures, and lists of office bearers, by March 31 each year.

Close to 1.7 million workers - all of them members of the 16 unions that face deregistration should the labour department fully adhere to the Labour Relations Act - could lose their bargaining power.

In response to this, Jim said: "We can confirm to our members that our union is extremely healthy and it is organisationally strong."

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