NUMSA wants Labour Court to issue declaration that strike at RAF legally protected
On Thursday, NUMSA approached the court in an attempt to defend its right to strike at the fund's offices following an interim order granted to the fund in March.
- Road Accident Fund (RAF)
- National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA)
- Department of Transport
FILE: Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey Makhaza/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has called on the Labour Court to issue a declaration that its strike at the Road Accident Fund (RAF) is legally protected.
On Thursday, NUMSA approached the court in an attempt to defend its right to strike at the fund's offices following an interim order granted to the fund in March.
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The order prevented the union from marching to the offices of the Department of Transport.
In its court papers, the RAF claimed it didn’t fall under the department but instead the social security sector.
This was unequivocally rejected by NUMSA, which described this as blatantly false, adding that the RAF board was appointed by the Department of Transport.
Following its appearance at the Labour Court, the union called for an immediate order declaring that its registered scope did not prevent it from organising within the RAF.
Furthermore, it wants it stated that the CEO of the fund, Collins Letsoalo, launched a violent attack against workers at RAF by, among others, stripping them of their right to freedom of association and abusing the courts.
"It doesn’t matter how much nonsensical propaganda the RAF churns out in a desperate attempt to discredit NUMSA, it is unable to run away from the fact that the entity is being grossly mismanaged and chaotic state of the agency being exposed," said spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola.