Moolmans sacks 31 despite union protest

ESUPO RANTSIMAKO
Correspondent | Friday May 7, 2010 00:00

Tati Nickel Mining Company (TNMC) has contracted Moolmans Mining Company for extraction of nickel ore.'It has been reported that TNMC has reduced its daily production from 35 tonnes to 30 tonnes, so we are not quite sure about what this retrenchment is all about because they keep on changing daily production rates,' Tambula said.

Tambula said they had an emergency meeting with management yesterday to discuss the retrenchment of Moolmans employees, one of his intentions being to convince the management not to fire the workers because there are still some issues that are not resolved.

He said that 31 workers confirmed yesterday that they are victims of the sack. The BMWU president said there is no healthy relationship between the Moolmans management who insisted on going ahead with the sacking despite the BMWU request to discuss retrenchment packages first.

Tambula said that the management is going to use the retrenchment agreement they sealed last year. 'They seem unwilling to give more than they did during the past retrenchment and we blame the labour law because it incapacitates workers to negotiate,' Tambula added.

'The other issue that was raised at the meeting is introduction of voluntary retrenchment packages because there are some who are willing to be retrenched, so such people are the ones to start with,' Tambula pointed out' 'We still want to go back to the union and urge all employers to take the TNMC to task because they do not want to work with us properly,' he said.