Since last week, these employees have been illegally blocking access to the mine. They are also stopping other employees from working.
A letter from the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) regional organiser, Mr Mthuthuzeli Naki, to Blyvoor Gold lists several demands related to the strike. The union wants access to Blyvoor Gold’s premises for their legal activities and to hold meetings with their members who are company employees. They also want to conduct shaft or shop steward elections. However, the NUM cannot officially initiate a strike because the mine does not currently recognise the union.
The NUM wants recognition from the mine and also wants it to dis-close information that will aid shop stewards, among other things.
Blyvoor Gold has its own union, the Blyvoor Workers Union (BWU), however. The late Wels Sempe established it to protect and care for the workers to be employed at the Blyvoor Gold mine.
Blyvoor Gold currently has a closed shop agreement with the BWU and the Department of Labour recognises this form of collective agreement. According to this arrangement, all employees must join this union or face dismissal.
A closed shop agreement is only legally binding if two-thirds of the workers have voted in favour of it. They are not required to be union members before their employment and their subscription or levies may only be used to advance or protect their socio-economic interests.
Sempe, who was assassinated while driving from his home in Greenspark last month, established the BWU because of the NUM’s wildcat strike in 2012. This strike, among other issues, caused the old Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine to close. When it did, however, the NUM did not help the approximately 2,000 employees left stranded. Meanwhile, Blyvoor Gold argues that, should the NUM take over the mine, its investors would withdraw and, like the old Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine, the mine would close.
