[miningmx.com] – THE Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) is opposed to central bargaining, and is likely to end the process if it becomes the majority union in the mining industry.
Joseph Mathunjwa, AMCU president, said the union had allowed itself to be drawn into the central bargaining process for gold mines, but is opposed to this form of bargaining, especially for the gold industry. The process is, in fact, in progress between the Chamber of Mines and the gold mines at the moment.
This decision could result in central bargaining, as it has been carried out by gold and coal mines since the mid-Eighties, to come to an end if AMCU’s 17% support in the country’s gold mines increases.
The union also objected earlier this year to efforts to establish central bargaining at platinum mines.
AMCU is demanding to be treated separately from the other unions in the dispute process that started between mining trade unions and gold mines in the past week. This could even result in litigation with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
The Chamber last week declared a dispute with AMCU on behalf of its gold mining members – for the first time in the Chamber’s history.
The other three unions, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and UASA, declared a dispute with the Chamber’s gold producers a week earlier, for which special senior mediator, Afzul Soobedaar, was appointed.
Soobedaar must now decide whether he is going to join the two disputes together, normally a simple step, but this time a decision with far-reaching implications.
An amalgamation will reduce AMCU’s chances of negotiating a higher wage increase at the three major mines where it represents workers.
AMCU has always preferred negotiations to be held at workplace level, as defined in the Labour Relations Act, Mathunjwa said at a news conference on Friday.
“In the gold mines, the crony arrangements, as they now exist, were made long before we started to recruit members at gold mines. We are always accused of not working together, so we decided to participate this year, Mathunjwa said.
“However, we prefer workplace-based bargaining. These mines differ, though they all mine gold. Their expenses, their management practices and profitability differ, even though they believed for many years that it is better to negotiate centrally, he said.
AMCU expects that the dispute declared by the Chamber against it will be kept separate from the disputes that the other unions declared with the Chamber.
The CCMA must decide whether it wants to amalgamate the disputes and deal with them as one dispute.
If AMCU objects to this, the CCMA’s control board must make the final decision.
If the control board confirms the amalgamation, AMCU can ask for advisory arbitration to be held. Once that is completed, AMCU can even call a strike over the matter. However, this would mean that the negotiations with the other unions will continue and will probably result in a settlement and a wage increase.
Elize Strydom, chief negotiator of the Chamber, said on Friday there is no chance that the Chamber will offer any of the unions a higher increase than any of the others.
Even if negotiations with AMCU are conducted separately, there is no chance that gold producers will make separate wage offers to different unions or at different mines, Strydom said.
