Mineworkers not to strike

[duncan drennan]

It turns out that the mineworkers are no longer going on a sympathy strike:

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will not join Wednesday's general strike because employers need to be given 10 days' advance notice.

The union's 280 000 members would instead hold demonstrations and pickets when not on duty in support of public servants' wage demands, said the union's general secretary Frans Baleni.

"We're also struggling to get some of the addresses for contractors so we can issue notice," said Baleni.

Baleni said earlier that the NUM, with over 280 000 members in the mining, construction and energy sectors, fully supported the public-service unions' demand for a 12% pay hike.

Really?!? Or would they rather just get paid, and this is the spin?

[Dave A]

I've been watching the sympathy strike aspect with interest to see how that might shake out. Not out of wondering whether there is support - I'm sure there is. But I'm wondering about the good old LRA and the collective agreements.

First off - can labour just serve notice it's going out on a sympathy strike. There's a process to be followed, surely. Including declaring a dispute - the basis of which should somehow be related to conditions of employment. And then some attempt at dispute resolution, no matter how token.

But it goes beyond just procedure - there has been a tendency of late towards multiple year collective agreements, with something written in that there will be no industrial action for the agreed period. I understand the municipal workers collective agreement might fall in this category as it was sorted last year and runs for three years.

It is possible labour could be calling certain members into an unprotected strike.