GroundUp reports that the Springs mine where hundreds of miners were held underground last week is to hold an employee ballot to decide on union rights, according to chief executive Jonathan Hericourt.

More than 500 miners were kept underground at the Gold One Mine for three days. Last Wednesday afternoon, about 400 miners came to the surface after an operation that involved the police and a team trained in underground rescues. Earlier in the day, about 136 miners had escaped up a mine stope. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) is fighting for legal recognition at the mine and is challenging the mine’s “closed shop” agreement with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The closed shop agreement means that the NUM is the only union that the mine recognises. Amcu claims to have more support than the NUM, which the latter denies. “Everyone is saying all sorts of numbers that we have no way of validating other than by doing an independent ballot, so that’s where we’re going to be going,” said Hericourt. Meanwhile, the company has begun disciplinary processes against employees involved in the hostage action, with at least one Amcu member receiving a suspension letter on Tuesday. According to Amcu, it was not a hostage situation but a sit-in by its members. NUM said that several members had been injured during the three days, all of whom have since been released from hospital.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Shaun Smillie at GroundUp
• Lees ook, Springs-myn: Myners sal stem tussen NUM en Amcu, by Maroela Media

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