THE UNITED Associations of South Africa (Uasa) is decrying the postponement to September of the long standing labour case against state arms manufacturer Denel, which had been slated this week to hopefully resolve outstanding salaries and benefits for its membership.
The matter, in which Uasa expected a ruling on Denel's non-compliance with a court order dates back to August 2020 ordering the company to honour its outstanding contractual salary obligations to the union's members in its employ.
“The matter was postponed to September, we do not have a set date,” Uasa’s spokesperson Abigail Moyo said pending the release of a statement from the union.
Uasa, along with trade union Solidarity, have running battles with beleaguered Denel, which itself is hard put to meet various financial obligations despite getting a R3 billion shot in the arm in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's inaugural budget, which was mostly to cater for interest payments.
Denel suffered a double whammy earlier this year when local banks turned it down for funding after it had secured a R6 billion missiles contract in Egypt, which would have seen it meet some of its obligations.
“Uasa will continue to fight tooth and nail for the rights of our members employed by Denel. We will continue with the court battles until Denel complies with all contractual obligations towards our members,“ the union said.
In a statement this week, Uasa said a comparison attached to Denel’s affidavit from earlier this month revealed that Denel had made little progress towards payments to the SA Revenue Service and the Denel pension fund (Denret) between July 2021 and March 2022.
“Uasa is disappointed by Denel’s application for the dismissal of the application as it is misguided and inappropriate, hence further oversight is indeed called for this matter, the weapons manufacturer shows no sense of emergency to honour its outstanding obligations, making a mere promise of intent to comply with the court order, and only in terms of paying three months’ salaries and dues (May to July 2020) by the end of September 2022,” it said.
Uasa accused Denel of not disclosing to the court that in February, it had obtained an order for the variation of the trust deed of the Denel Medical Trust stating that the company would receive a financial ‘injection’ of R1 billion accessing the excess funds in the medical benefits trust.
“Uasa members working at Denel continue to bear the brunt of Denel’s and its Shareholder lack of commitment. While the cost of living soars unabated, unpaid Denel workers are expected to report for duty,” Uasa said.