Numsa heads to Constitutional Court to have Aveng Trident Steel workers reinstated
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has approached the Constitutional Court to seek the reinstatement of 733 workers who were dismissed by Aveng Trident Steel.
The steel fabricator in 2015 issued a Section 189 notice, informing workers of its plans to restructure the company.
According to Numsa, Aveng had issued a letter during the consultation process in April 2015, demanding that workers accept new changes to their terms and conditions of employment, and if they refused, their contracts would be terminated.
Numsa said the subsequent dismissal of 733 Numsa members had been in violation of the Labour Relations Act, which provided that workers could not be dismissed for refusing a change in their terms and conditions.
The union had taken the matter to the Labour Court, where the dismissals were upheld, and subsequently to the Labour Appeals Court, but the application was denied there too.
Aveng Trident Steel, during the hearings, argued that the workers were dismissed because of a change in operational requirements and not because of a change in their terms and conditions.
Aveng Trident Steel also said the letter that it issued in 2015 was issued as a proposal based on operational requirements and not a demand.
“If Aveng succeeds at the Constitutional Court, it means employers can circumvent the Section 189 consultation process by simply tabling demands to employees about changes to their terms and conditions.
“If they refuse, then they will be dismissed. It is therefore important that the Constitutional Court clarifies this issue in order to protect workers from being exploited by the bosses,” Numsa said.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
SmartMine IoT has been developed with the mining industry in mind, to provides our customers with powerful business intelligence and data modelling...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
