Amcu ranks swell to 20,000, turns to Amplats

[miningmx.com] – THE Associated Mineworkers and Construction Union
(Amcu) served notice of its growing influence in South Africa’s platinum sector,
claiming some 20,000 workers at Impala Platinum (Implats) and Lonmin were among
its ranks; a figure that was “… growing by the day’.

Joseph Mathunjwa, Amcu president, put in a rare media appearance on the basis of
correcting “selective’ media coverage that portrayed the union as disruptive and
violent.

However, he felt that he couldn’t rule out another strike at Implats or possible
disruption at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), where Amcu had been “invited’ to
canvass for membership.

Failure to resolve a dispute with Implats regarding the verification of its support
through payroll data, which would presage winning organisational rights at the Impala
Lease Area mine in Rustenburg, could see Amcu call a strike, Mathunjwa said. The
dispute is currently before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation ad Arbitration
(CCMA), Mathunjwa said.

He estimated Amcu had 15,000 members at the mine, 11,000 of which were
confirmed as they had lodged stop orders with the union. “If we fail to solve the
CCMA issue with Impala, we will call strike action which will be protected,’ he said.
There were a further 5,000 members at Lonmin’s Western Platinum “Karee’ mine
where the union had been granted some organisational rights.

Mathunjwa described activities at Amplats operations as being “fairly intense
recruitment’ after its labour invited Amcu to build its representation. “I don’t want to
be a prophet of doom,’ said Mathunjwa on the prospect of disruption at the Amplats
mines similar to events at Implats earlier this year. “I don’t want to see conflict
there,’ he added.

Implats suffered a six-week strike at its Impala Lease Area mine, enough to cost it
R2.5bn in revenue, after Amcu’s growing traction among pockets of labour erupted in
violence – events Mathunjwa blamed on the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

Commenting on the death of one NUM member at Implat’s Impala Lease Area,
Mathunjwa said a NUM member had “pulled a gun’ and started firing following the
outbreak of a squabble with Amcu. “NUM has lost its objective of serving workers,’
said Mathunjwa. “It is more interested in becoming shareholders of big companies.’

In a ray of hope for Implats, however, Mathunjwa said that he anticipated a power-
sharing structure at the Rustenburg mine, even though the labour organisational
rights as set down by Implats allowed for single union representation if a majority
(15,000-member) threshold was reached. “We would be prepared to enter into power
sharing … provided we don’t waive our rights,’ he said.

Former Implats CEO, David Brown, suggested that if Amcu was the new majority
union, a new agreement of power-sharing could be formed in preference to the
current “winner takes all’ system.