Gold One dismisses over 400 mineworkers for wildcat strike
The management of Gold One mine has dismissed over 400 workers for their involvement in last year's wildcat strike at the company's Modder East operation in Springs.
Hundreds of mineworkers failed to resurface at the mine in October, in what the National Union of Mineworkers described as a hostage situation. Rival union Amcu described the incident as a worker sit-in demanding organisational rights.
Gold One mine Head of Legal Ziyaad Hassam says over 140 employees remain suspended.
"We can confirm that 401 employees have been dismissed; this follows their involvement in the illegal strike of October and December last year; a further 140 employees are currently on suspension, and their hearings are likely to take place next week."
NUM Spokesperson Luphert Chilwane has slammed the dismissals, saying they will head to court.
"We are aware of the dismissal letters given to the workers. To us, those workers are victims of the hostage situation that happened three months ago. We are dismissing the company's decision as we feel that they did a little investigation to find out who were the perpetrators of that hostage situation.
"As NUM, we will fight tooth and nail against any move by the company to dismiss those workers. Gold One must go back to the drawing board and paint every worker with the same brush, and we will be challenging the dismissal in court."
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