Num slams "blacklisting' of workers

Fri, 18 Apr 2008

The National Union of Mineworkers (Num) has condemned the industry's apparent blacklisting of mineworkers.

It was emulating the "terrible credit bureau system that marginalised and disenfranchised millions of South Africans", the Num said in a statement on Thursday.

"While many recruitment agencies continue to illegally rely on the less regulated terrible credit bureau system to put millions of young South African graduates out of jobs, the mining industry moves to close the gap ensuring that the jobless graduates' parents are also in the same jobless situation," said Num spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka.

The trade union Solidarity announced on Wednesday that it intended lodging a complaint about the practice with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).

It had already held informal talks with the SAHRC, was now collating examples of the practice and was just days away from filing its complaint, spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said on Thursday.

Its legal department was also reviewing the possibility of taking the matter to the Labour Court. It believed it had a strong case, but had yet to decide whether to pursue it in the courts, he said.

The Num voiced its full support for any court action by Solidarity.

It alleged that a worker had approached it claiming he could not be given a job by AngloGold because "he was blacklisted" while working for a contractor at the same company sometime ago, apparently for participating in an industrial action.

"It has also emerged that this practice is also rampant and more prevalent at (Anglo Platinum) where a worker cannot be hired by any other contractor after the 'blacklisting'," said Seshoka.

Apart from calling on the industry to stop the blacklistings as soon as possible, the Num has implored the Department of Labour and the SAHRC to intervene "as a matter of urgency".

Neither AngloGold nor Anglo Platinum could immediately be reached for comment.

On Thursday, the head of Solidarity's legal department, Nic Arnold, said the union would try to prove that Anglo Platinum was guilty of an unfair practice under Constitutional provisions giving people the rights to choose their trade and entitling them to fair labour practices.

"We plan to bring the charge on behalf of a group of our members who have been negatively affected by this practice," said Arnold.

"It is our contention that the employer's authority over the employee stands only to termination of service and that employers cannot cause harm to employees beyond termination.

"Dismissal is, in itself, a punishment and employers cannot be allowed to punish persons for an indefinite period," he said.

Arnold said employees in most dismissals were not found guilty in a court of law but in an internal disciplinary hearing at which the presiding officer frequently did not have any legal training.