Trade union Solidarity on Thursday said in a statement that it has served legal papers on steel producer Ispat-Iscor in which it asks that the company’s current retrenchment process be declared void.
The court action comes after sparks flew this week between Ispat-Iscor and Solidarity following a notice “in terms of which Ispat-Iscor wants to begin with restructuring at Newcastle, in spite of an announcement that there would be no forced retrenchments in the company for the next three years”, the statement said.
The union claims that should its application succeed, the action will be a watershed for retrenchments in South Africa, which may cost Ispat-Iscor as much as R400-million in damages and re-employment.
“It will also create a precedent that will make it much more difficult for the company to retrench workers in future,” the trade union said.
In its court papers, the trade union argues that Iscor does not have a valid reason to retrench people and that an invalid process has been followed.
The court action is in response to an announcement made to the trade unions last week by Ispat-Iscor’s chief executive Louis van Niekerk in which it was stated that there would be no forced retrenchments at the company for a period of three years.
On the strength of this announcement, the trade union signed a wage agreement with Ispat-Iscor.
According to Solidarity, Ispat-Iscor now also refuses to enter into a written agreement placing a moratorium on forced retrenchments.
“Ispat-Iscor is prepared to enter into a watered-down agreement, in terms of which the company undertakes to attempt restricting retrenchments to natural personnel turnover and voluntary packages. This means that the company will try to find alternatives to retrenching people, but if the attempt is unsuccessful it will carry on with retrenchments.”
Solidarity added that this is exactly what the Labour Relations Act prescribes and is worlds removed from Van Niekerk’s announcement to trade unions of an Iscor-Ispat pledge to refrain from carrying out forced retrenchments for the next three years.
The union said the notice of planned restructuring in Newcastle shows that Iscor is reneging on its own pledge.
“We have therefore decided to create a precedent through litigation, since Iscor’s pledge is simply not good enough,” Solidarity chief secretary in Ispat-Iscor, Johan Pieterse, said. — I-Net Bridge