[miningmx.com] – ANGLO American Platinum chairman, Valli Moosa, delivered an extraordinarily frank summation of the five-and-a-half month strike in the platinum sector earlier this year saying he felt ashamed by it.
Speaking at the Joburg Indaba conference, Moosa also described the strike as a social revolt that extended beyond mere inter-union rivalry and wage demands, and called on the mining sector at large to modernise its practices to avoid a repeat.
“What we witnessed was a major social uprising and a revolt,” said Moosa in a no-holds barred session in which he was joined on stage by Webber Wentzel lawyer, Peter Leon, Sipho Nkosi, CEO of Exxaro Resources, and MD of Goldman Sachs, Colin Coleman.
“None of the workers would not have gone on that length of strike unless they wanted to send us serious message,” said Moosa. “As Amplats, I am ashamed that workers had to go on that strike to show us the system is broke.”
Moosa said the industry ought to embrace modernisation in which low wage, low-skilled labour was replaced by skilled miners running mechanised mines. He also said workers ought to be represented in company decision-making.
“Workers at the same time should be owners which would change the mindset as well as management mindset,” said Moosa – a view that led Leon to suggest the adoption of the German management system of a two-tiered board structure in which unions had representation on a “supervisory board”.
“Right now, we have a completely combative relationship,” said Moosa of the way in which labour and management communicated. “I don’t see why workers shouldn’t engage in decision-making,” he said.
At the same time, it was important to provide returns to the providers of capital. “The returns the industry is providing are pathetic,” said Moosa. “It’s a wonder they [shareholders] are still with us.
“But our workers are no less important. We are working on this from the top. Amplats as world leader has a responsibility to lead and we are doing that,” he said.
