[miningmx.com] – A RUSTENBURG-based attorney is signing up contractors financially harmed by the five-and-a-half month platinum sector strike between January and June in an effort to sue the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU).
Millie Westley of Westley Attorneys said she had collected 110 names so far with damages claims totalling a collective R33m to R44m.
“There are about 110 names so far that have joined the list to sue AMCU with each claim somewhere between R300,000 to R400,000,’ said Westley. She believes more will follow.
Ig Bredenkamp, a Pretoria advocate who has agreed to take the case, said the intention was to consolidate the complaints in order to make it a group action.
“We’ve seen precedent for this in the class action being prepared against Tiger Brands, Premier Foods and Pioneer Foods on bread price collusion,’ he said.
“What we’re trying to do is show that AMCU acted unreasonably in dragging the strike out so long,’ said Westley.
“The legal principle is that the strike was irrational because they eventually settled at a level not much different to the first offer they received from employers.’
Westley believes that platinum mine contractors will have some joy in court. The AMCU brought about 70,000 platinum workers out on strike as it sought basic wages of R12,500 per month.
Analysts at JP Morgan calculated that the wage agreement with AMCU amounted to a cost-to-company increase of between 11% and 12%, which is only slightly more than the effect on costs of the wage settlements the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) most recently negotiated, without recourse to a strike, with Royal Bafokeng Platinum which was between 9.5% to 10.5%.
AMCU is familiar with the court process, however. It was interdicted by the Chamber of Mines earlier this year after it attempted to take members in the gold industry on strike despite the sector having agreed to a settlement in 2013.
One court action the union won’t be facing, though, is one with Amplats. Chris Griffith, CEO of Amplats, told Miningmx that the platinum firm had decided to drop a damages claim against AMCU as part of the wage settlement agreed on June 23.
“No, we’re not progressing it. It was the very last thing that we agreed on in our wage negotiations,’ he said.
Amplats said in February it was suing AMCU for R591m for damage to property and output losses as NUM members were prevented from going to work.
“If we bring baggage to the table, we won’t be able to get on. We have to acknowledge they [AMCU] had a right to strike.
“We have had substantial interaction with workers and the process is surpassing my expectations. I wouldn’t describe the situation as volatile, but we have to be careful,’ he said.
Interestingly, AMCU membership on Amplats mines has fallen, albeit slightly. “It’s down to about 53% of the total employees (numbering around 50,000 of which 27,000 are employed in Rustenburg) from about 60%,’ said Griffith.
