Publications
Partners
South Africa’s biggest platinum mineworkers’ union and the industry failed to reach a deal on workers’ pay yesterday, raising the prospect of industrial action in the world’s top producer of the white metal.
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), which led a crippling five-month strike in 2014, has been in talks with Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin since July.
“To date no progress has been made,” Amcu said. “The union has therefore officially declared deadlocks with all three companies.”
The companies were not immediately available to comment.
Amcu said it would next week separately meet Impala and Anglo American Platinum to seek a resolution. No meeting with Lonmin has been confirmed, it said.
Declaration of a dispute is the first step towards launching a strike and if next week’s meetings fail to find a solution, the dispute would be referred to a government mediator in a bid to break the impasse, failing which the union could give the industry a 48-hour notice to down tools.
The union is demanding pay hikes of more than 50% for its lowest paid members, who take home about R8000 a month, and a 15% hike for its higher paid members.
The demands are well above inflation at 6%.
South Africa has the biggest and most lucrative platinum reserves but labour unrest and regulatory uncertainty have dampened investors’ enthusiasm.
The strike in 2014 hit the industry hard, costing it more than R20 billion in lost output and forcing the companies to cut jobs, shed mines and in some cases seek cash from investors.
Meanwhile, more than 1500 members of the National Union of Mineworkers threatened to march today against planned retrenchments at Sibanye Gold’s loss-making Cooke 4 mine.
Job cuts are a thorny issue in Africa’s most industrialised country where the unemployment rate is near 27%, a big concern for companies faced with labour disputes.
Sibanye began talks with unions for job cuts at the mine in July, after failing to stem heavy losses at the operation. The company first broached the subject of job cuts at the mine with unions in November 2014.
Since then Cooke 4 has continued to fall short of production targets and accumulate losses, which the company said threatened the viability of the other three Cooke operations.
The NUM, which has the lion’s share of membership in the gold sector, called on Sibanye to “surrender the mining licence to any responsible company that will be willing to mine the Cook 4 operation” and vowed to fight the closure and job cuts.
Sibanye’s spokesperson James Wellsted said talks with unions, mining ministry officials and other parties were ongoing.
“It’s a bit puzzling why they are resorting to this rather than utilising the Section 189 process,” Wellsted said.
Section 189 is a legal requirement for companies to consult unions, the government and other stakeholders for up to 90 days over planned retrenchment process.
Sibanye says it employs 1700 workers at Cooke 4 and about 7000 workers at all its four Cooke operations. – Reuters
