The Labour Court on Wednesday postponed judgement on the interdict brought by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) against gold miner Harmony Gold (HAR) with regards to the laying-off of about 5 000 mineworkers.
NUM said that the court had indicated that it will make an announcement on Friday, at 10am.
“Indeed we are pleased with the courts applying their minds to this matter because we think it is a serious one. We think they should look at the issue within the context of a company that not only acted against the law but lays off workers while giving millions to its executives and paying millions more to lawyers in a futile hostile bid against another company”, NUM Free State chairperson Tanki Malefane said.
The union said that its interdict was based on the understanding that Harmony’s actions were illegal in that the company had retrenched workers without entering into a consultation process with NUM — and if such processes had failed, the Commission for Conciliatory, Mediation and Arbitrary (CCMA) would have been brought in to facilitate.
“We wonder what corporate governance principles apply in Harmony that its CEO and four of its managers would get about R19,4-million in share options at a time when company stocks fell to a three-year low. It’s even more disgusting that this happens on the back of a lay-off of 5 000 workers, earning a mere minimum of R2 000.
“Clearly, there’s a problem with corporate governance here and commitment to the national agenda of creating jobs and fighting poverty. This insult to injury action shows that Harmony does not value the very workers who made the share options possible. One is tempted to suggest that this is not surprising given that you have a black economic empowerment component — a major shareholder too in Harmony — sitting quietly by the side while the company rots. On the other hand you have a CEO who’s alleged to be having off-shore accounts, thus not making one wonder about his national priorities”, said NUM General Secretary Gwede Mantashe.
The trade union added that currently Harmony is spending millions in its hostile bid against Goldfields, “paying lawyers to a projected tune of — at least — R53-million”, and is “surrounding itself with spin-doctors to clear words like ‘cash burn’.”
The union added that it hoped that the Labour Court would make a sound judgement in defending the laws “which workers fought hard for in order to protect themselves from brutalisation by companies like Harmony.” – I-Net Bridge