When they were fired, Numsa referred the matter to conciliation. The Council said that the company must reinstate the workers with a final written warning and that one week. Members were not happy. Numsa referred the matter to arbitration. At arbitration, the arbitrator ruled that the strike was legal and that members should be reinstated with backpay.
Company loses Review The company asked for a review of the arbitrator.
By this time, workers had been out of their jobs for 8 months. At the Review, the company said that the workers should have followed the company procedure if they wanted to go on a legal strike. But the company lost the Review. The Court said that Numsa members had followed the correct procedures. Because wage bargaining was done at national level, it was enough for Numsa to notify the Bargaining Council that it was going on a legal strike.