Mine workers get their jobs back

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THIRTEEN employees of Dalny Mine fired from work in January 2013 following an alleged illegal strike that degenerated into violence have been reinstated with full benefits by an independent arbitrator.

THIRTEEN employees of Dalny Mine fired from work in January 2013 following an alleged illegal strike that degenerated into violence have been reinstated with full benefits by an independent arbitrator.

BLESSED MHLANGA STAFF REPORTER

Dalny Mine, which is facing closure due to operational challenges, is owned by Canadian-listed miner New Dawn which also has interests in Falcon Gold.

Most of the dismissed miners were members of the National Mine Workers Union Zimbabwe (NMWUZ), which challenged the workers’ dismissal alleging victimisation.

In its submissions to arbitrator Jonasi Ndomene, Dalny Mine argued that the said workers had engaged in an unlawful strike and ignored a ministerial show cause order issued on January 23 2013 calling on them to halt the job action.

“The claimants led an unlawful collective job action at Dalny Mine against a ministerial show cause order issued on January 23 2013 which called on them to cease the unlawful collective job action immediately,” reads part of Dalny Mine submissions.

However, the arbitrator found that the company had acted harshly by dismissing all 19 workers despite the fact that they had different charges.

The arbitrator then ordered the reinstatement of 13 workers charged only with participating in the strike while the seven accused of beating up mine management and sabotaging company equipment remained fired.