The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) last week embarked on a protected strike at the Rand Refinery, in Germiston, which has been refining gold since 1920. The refinery managed to secure a Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration pay agreement with minority union the United Association of South Africa but was unsuccessful in doing so with Numsa, whose incidents of unrest led to an interdict by the Johannesburg Labour Court compelling the strikers to conduct their strike action within the preagreed picketing agreement and the applicable legal parameters and adhere to these. Among the strike leaders seen picketing outside the 94-year-old precious metals complex are instrumentation mechanician Andrew Segole, second from left, and Vuledzani Mulaudzi, centre.