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The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members at Msobo Coal Mine in Mpumalanga are on a protected strike that started yesterday afternoon.

The reason why they are embarking on a strike action is due to the following:

· The company issued NUM with section 189 notice in October 2015

· CCMA facilitated the consultation process

· During the consultation it became clear that the company was merely following procedure, it did not intend to consult meaningfully to consider avoidance measures. They did not consider avoidance measures as per the stakeholder agreement signed by Chamber of Mines, labour and government.

· Our view as the NUM is that the purpose of this retrenchment is to dismiss permanent employees and replace them with contractors. It is clear that Msobo coal is behaving exactly like Optimum Glencore Mine.

·The mine is profitable and the company further confirm that the production is good and it can be compared with best-performing companies.

· The company issued letters of termination on the 23rd of November 2015, and our recourse is to embark on a strike action.

The NUM will continue fighting to defend jobs and mitigate the impact of retrenchments in the mining industry.

There is a need for a real transformation in the mining industry that emphasise on human development, not only profits.

The logic of capital requires constant growth in order to accumulate wealth, but this growth is, unfortunately, dependent on exploiting mineworkers who still earn poverty wages.

The NUM will fight tooth and nail to make sure that its members are not retrenched cheaply. We remain fearless, committed, dedicated and unshaken in fighting for our members.

The NUM, Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and Msobo Coal will meet tomorrow in Witbank to try and resolve the problems.

For more information, please contact:
Bongani Tshabalala: NUM Highveld Regional Organiser: 079 518 4774
Livhuwani Mammburu: Acting NUM National Spokesman: 083 809 3257

Address:
7 Rissik Street.
Cnr Frederick,
Johannesburg 2001
Tel: 011 377 2111

Web: www.num.org.za
Twitter: @Num Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/NUM/100860023402167