Johannesburg - The right to strike has been used to achieve social justice, the Labour Court in Johannesburg heard on Thursday.
“We all know how workers dismantled apartheid,” Feroze Boda, for the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), said.
Amcu was seeking to explain why an interim order, granted to the Chamber of Mines preventing the union from striking in the gold sector, should not be made final.
He said Amcu members' rights had been infringed.
“The right to strike is fundamental to improve their lives.”
The chamber went to court after Amcu issued a strike notice on January 20.
Boda said Amcu should have been consulted before a wage agreement reached with other unions in the gold sector was extended to Amcu.
He said the agreement might have been intended to damage Amcu.
The matter continues. - Sapa