[miningmx.com] – THE establishment of a centralised bargaining forum at platinum mines is heading for a stalemate because the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) refuses to take part in negotiations about the issue.
This increases the risk of further widespread labour unrest in the struggling platinum industry, because the three top producers’ wage agreements end later this year.
The Chamber of Mines, the three smaller unions – the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and UASA – and the platinum members in the Chamber agreed on March 6 to create a provisional forum that can start with wage negotiations by May, says Dr Elise Strydom, senior executive head for labour relations of the Chamber of Mines, which is doing the groundwork for the negotiations.
The problem, however, is that Amcu, which has for the past two weeks been recognised by the three largest platinum producers as the representative trade union of their workers, is refusing to participate.
This makes the negotiations useless because Amcu is already the majority union in the industry. The longer the negotiations are postponed, the more support Amcu is getting.
Wage agreements with three smaller unions could easily be regarded by members of Amcu as defiance and lead to further strikes.
The question is how platinum groups must carry out the wage negotiations this year. The wage agreements by Impala Platinum (Implats) and Lonmin end in the second quarter, and that of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) in the third.
Amcu is on the mailing list for the talks between the employers and employees to establish a negotiating forum. It therefore receives all the invitations and correspondence about the efforts to create a centralised bargaining forum, but does not respond to them.
This causes enormous frustration for Strydom and Les Kettledas, deputy director-general of labour, who was appointed by the South African government to facilitate the process.
Joseph Mathunjwa, Amcu’s president, says the union will only consider participating in discussions “when the situation has stabilised, when it is clear how much support each individual union enjoys and when we have had the opportunity to obtain proper mandates from our members’.
Amcu is adamant that it will not allow itself to be dragged into negotiating arrangements for which it has no mandate from its members. “The question is what advantages central bargaining holds for workers,’ Mathunjwa said.
He also does not see that his union can go ahead with this before its recognition agreements with platinum producers are signed. This will probably result in the NUM losing all bargaining rights at platinum mines.
So far Amcu has only signed an agreement with Amplats, but Implats and Lonmin recognise it as representing their workforce.
The Amplats agreement makes no provision for minorities; it’s basically the same agreement that Amplats had earlier with NUM. However Implats and Lonmin insist that minority union must also be represented.
According to Mathunjwa, Amcu has no objection to minority unions taking part in central wage negotiations. “However there cannot be free access for everyone. There must be a safety valve,’ he said.
He is clearly suspicious of the insistence on a central bargaining forum – there is a suspicion that it is a trick to protect NUM and to reserve a strong minority seat for this union at the negotiating table.
As far as Mathunjwa is concerned, platinum producers must abide by existing arrangements for this year’s wage negotiations – that is negotiations at company level.
Officially labour minister Mildred Oliphant is the responsible minister, but Oliphant met Mathunjwa in January and could not make any headway.
“Mathunjwa ran circles around her, and she could simply not pin him down,’ someone who also attended this meeting told Sake24.
Yesterday Oliphant said via her spokesman, Musa Zondi, that at this stage she was not considering getting the discussion of central bargaining on the go again. “You cannot force people to accept something like this,’ Zondi said.
The employers and minority parties believe Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu would have a better chance of success with Amcu, especially since Shabangu got Amcu as far as signing the framework agreement for a peace process at platinum mines two weeks ago.
However Shabangu’s spokesman said on March 8 she could not get involved unless Oliphant asked her.
