CCMA mulling Lonmin jurisdiction
The CCMA will decide within two weeks whether it has jurisdiction in a dispute between Lonmin and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the commission said on Tuesday.
The CCMA will decide within two weeks whether it has jurisdiction in a dispute between Lonmin and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the commission said on Tuesday.
"The CCMA today [Tuesday] heard arguments from the NUM and Lonmin as to whether it has jurisdiction to hear a dispute about the collective agreement between the parties that ended on July 16," the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration said in a statement.
"If the commissioner finds that the CCMA has jurisdiction to hear the matter, the matter will be set down for conciliation."
Platinum miner Lonmin raised a jurisdictional challenge about whether the CCMA could hear the matter.
In April, Lonmin gave the NUM three months' notice of its intention to withdraw from its existing recognition agreement if the union membership was not at the required 50 percent plus one threshold.
It was alleged that the NUM's membership had fallen below the threshold.
An urgent application at the Labour Court by the NUM on July 11 to prevent Lonmin from terminating the agreement was dismissed on the grounds of no urgency.
The NUM then referred the dispute to the CCMA regarding the interpretation and application of its recognition agreement with Lonmin.
It claimed Lonmin had acted in contravention of the recognition agreement in transferring its members to rival union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.
It argued that this was the reason why the NUM membership had fallen below the threshold.
-Sapa