Numsa to march in Tshwane automotive heartland
Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) are set to march to the offices of Venture SA in Rosslyn, northwest of Pretoria this morning.
Venture SA is a major auto parts supply company to BMW.
The trade union has described Venture SA as 'union bashers' and the management as 'hostile to employees.'
Union spokesperson, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, says the company dismissed 21 employees who refused to work, because of a lack of water supply at the initial onset of lockdown.
"They were particularly concerned because the lack of water meant they could not adequately sanitize and wash their hands to prevent Covid-19.
"Management responded with utter brutality and by the end of March, all 21 employees had been unfairly dismissed," says Hlubi-Majola.
The trade union says the employer promised to reinstate all the dismissed workers; however, Venture SA later went back on their word.
Hlubi-Majola says the matter has been referred to the Dispute Resolution Council of the Motor Industries Bargaining Council (MIBCO) for resolution.
She adds union members are 'fed up' and will march to the Venture offices and continue to BMW, where a second memorandum will also be handed over.
The march is expected to start at 10 am Thursday morning.
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Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says the company went against the original section 189 notice and agreement with unions that stated that 750 jobs would be cut. "The retrenchments have been implemented from the 14th of August, but it is being done in a piecemeal basis and we have no clarity on what the total numbers of employees to be retrenched are.