Business Report
*Election loser Komane takes NUM to CCMA* *Wiseman Khuzwayo, Business Report, 5 August 2012 *Former deputy secretary general of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Oupa Komane, who lost a bruising leadership battle to become general secretary, claims that he is still an employee of the union, wants to discuss a severance package and has refused to return a union motor vehicle because he says it is a "union tool".
He has gone to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to enforce what he says are his employment rights under the Labour Relations Act (LRA).
Komane demands the NUM deploys him just as it did with its former general secretaries Kgalema Motlanthe and Gwede Mantashe.
Komane stood against incumbent Frans Baleni, the NUM general secretary, at the 14th elective national congress of the union in May and lost in a campaign that was characterised by faction battles.
Baleni had been nominated by seven regions and Komane by four.The union leadership had complained about dirty campaigning ahead of the election and during the congress itself. Complaints of skulduggery included soliciting aid from employers in return for a no-strike deal, phone tapping and e-mails and faxes being monitored.
A day before the voting took place, the Highveld region took to the open area near the leader's podium, singing and making hand gestures, signalling for a change of leadership. They were joined by the Eastern Cape, who were in turn joined by Komane.
Komane was replaced by Northern Cape secretary Tshimane Montoedi.In his complaint to the CCMA, Komane says his employer, the NUM, unfairly and without reasons terminated his employment.
He says that although he was not re-elected at the congress as the deputy general secretary, he was not dismissed as an employee of the union.
Komane says an internal grievance was not allowed by the employer and no reasons for the termination were given as per the requirements of the LRA.
He adds that his employer did not have a contract with him, which is odd.His lawyers, Cowan-Harper Attorneys, say Komane did not understand why the NUM did not engage him in severance discussions or deploy him in accordance with the established practice of the NUM.
The lawyers for the NUM, Cheadle Thompson & Haysom, say their client was taking appropriate steps to deal with the unlawful use and possession by Komane of a union motor vehicle, an Amarok Volkswagen, and a petrol card, which belongs to the NUM. The Amarok is a double cab and retails up to R425 300.
Komane says there has been an established practice at NUM for many years in terms of which full time office bearers, who would not have been re-elected, were not required to return their vehicles.
This includes Motlanthe and Mantashe.The lawyers for the NUM say Komane had a fixed period of employment with the union which was terminated when he was not re-elected to the position of deputy general secretary or any other office.
The matter went to conciliation at the CCMA last week, where no headway was made. It is now going to arbitration.
*From: http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/election-loser-komane-takes-num-to-ccma-1.1356430#.UB6f7_Ygf3M*
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