Lily Mine’s application for business rescue announced by the company on Thursday is the only option left for the mine and its employees‚ the trade union Solidarity says.

Solidarity General Secretary Gideon du Plessis said given the fact that production had been suspended since a collapse at the mine on February 4 and that the mine probably would not be operational again in the near future‚ business rescue now seemed to be the mine’s best option.

The mine‚ located near Barbeton in Mpmulanga‚ suspended operations two months ago when a container‚ with three workers inside‚ plunged into a massive hole caused by rock fall. Solomon Nyerende‚ Pretty Nkambule and Yvonne Mnisi were never found as dangerous conditions prevented the resumption of rescue operations.

“Although an application for business rescue is often merely a forerunner of a liquidation process‚ it still holds several benefits for the company and its employees. In addition‚ business rescue protects the company from creditors and it may help to ensure that the employees’ conditions of employment remain unchanged unless it is renegotiated with the unions involved‚” Du Plessis said.

Du Plessis said a further advantage of the business rescue application was that all trade unions would immediately be considered to be interested parties in the process.

“Therefore it now also gives Solidarity direct access to our members – a right which the company has denied our members to date‚” he added.

Meanwhile‚ Solidarity’s main priority now was to protect its members’ jobs.

“Therefore‚ we shall also present the principles of the Department of Labour’s retrenchment-training-scheme as a possibility to the business practitioner in order to protect jobs. In terms of that‚ employees with transferable skills will also be empowered until the mine hopefully can resume full production again‚” Du Plessis said.

Du Plessis nonetheless criticised the mine’s management because the trade union was not informed of the business rescue application beforehand.

“Management previously undertook not to initiate any process that would affect workers’ job security before informing Solidarity. Management already applied for business rescue on 4 April without informing Solidarity‚” he said.

In terms of the business rescue process‚ the powers of the directors and management are restricted and‚ for the time being‚ the business rescue practitioner will take responsibility for the management of the company.

“Once the business rescue practitioner has been appointed‚ Solidarity will seek to establish a constructive relationship with the practitioner in order to initiate a joint attempt to make the mine sustainable again and to protect jobs‚” Du Plessis said.

Solidarity would liaise with the Department of Mineral Resources to advance the hearing investigation into the reason for the mine disaster so that the trade union could disclose the information regarding the cause of the mine’s collapse as soon as possible.

“Currently several employees are being victimised‚ accused of being whistle-blowers‚ and threatened. Whistle-blowers are protected by law and the company must immediately cease its witch-hunt and victimisation‚ or Solidarity will be forced to take appropriate legal action against individuals in the company‚” Du Plessis said.