South Africa's NUM union to hold mass meeting on Northam strike

Reuters
Mine workers gather at Wonderkop stadium outside the Lonmin mine in Rustenburg, northwest of Johannesburg January 29, 2014. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers said on Thursday it would hold a mass meeting with its members who are on a wildcat strike at a Northam Platinum operation to decide if the stoppage will continue. NUM's Northam branch chairman Joseph Moloko told Reuters the meeting would begin at 1200 GMT. The company said on Wednesday the workers could face dismissal if they did not return to work and served the union with a court order to stop the strike. The strike began on Tuesday night when over 5,000 workers downed tools at Northam's Zondereinde mine demanding the removal of chief executive Paul Dunne for what the union alleges is unfair hiring and firing practices. Moloko said the union would study the court order with members and respond by the required date of Monday, Jan. 19. The wider platinum industry is still recovering from a sometimes violent five-month strike last year by NUM's arch rival AMCU, which hit Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin, the world's top producers.