Harmony Gold on Monday complied with a Labour Court ruling by withdrawing retrenchment notices issued to about 5 000 Free State mineworkers, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said.
”Harmony announced that it has withdrawn all the retrenchment notices issued to the Free State mineworkers over two weeks ago,” NUM spokesperson Moferefere Lekorotsoana said.
This notice was given earlier in the day during a hearing at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in Welkom.
The NUM expressed satisfaction with Harmony’s move, which is in line with a Labour Court ruling on May 6 that the 5 000 miners could return to work following Harmony’s retrenchment bid.
The court, sitting in Johannesburg, found that Harmony Gold had rushed the procedure set down in the Labour Relations Act to retrench workers, and it was ordered to pay costs.
Harmony Gold expressed disappointment at the ruling, but said it will start the retrenchment procedure again.
”The process was started in April last year and was absolutely fair,” said Ferdi Dippenaar, marketing director of Harmony Gold.
”[The] NUM has tried to frustrate the process despite the fact that we had reached an agreement in July. By May 20, we will restart the process.” — Sapa