Rustenburg - The mineworkers dismissed by Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) must be reinstated, Cosatu said on Friday.
“You cannot dismisses a worker via an sms. It is illegal. You called people to a disciplinary hearing,” said Congress of SA Trade Unions North West provincial secretary Solly Phetoe.
Amplats fired 12,000 workers last week after they failed to appear at a disciplinary hearing. The workers went on a wildcat strike on September 12, demanding a monthly salary of R16 000 and allowances.
They refused to attend hearings, and rather pushed for their demands to be met.
They also insisted on representing themselves rather than using trade unions to negotiate their demands.
They did not want the National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) to represent them.
Instead, they burnt their union T-shirts and marched to the Rustenburg office to de-register their NUM membership.
“Cosatu agrees with the demands of the workers. They are genuine,” Phetoe said on the sidelines of an SA Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) protest march in Rustenburg.
“The workers do not want the branch leadership of the National Union of Mineworkers. They are not against the union or Cosatu. Workers have been misled.”
He said he spoke to striking mineworkers in Swartklip and Amandelbult on Thursday and Friday.
“I led a march to hand over a memorandum in Swartklip today (Friday), I was in Amandelbult yesterday (Thursday). Workers raised genuine issues.”
Phetoe said the memorandum would be forwarded to the Chamber of Mines and issues relating to internal union issues would be resolved.
“The situation has calmed down,” he said. - Sapa