[miningmx.com] – MINING may resume at Impala Platinum’s (Implats’s)
Lease Area mine in Rustenburg on March 5, but there are still serious questions to
tackle regarding relations between labour, union and employers.
According to Implats, its ranks of rock drill operators (RDOs) are getting older and
sicker and at current wage structures, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to incentivise
new entrants to that particular job description.
A recent reconnaissance by Implats for new employees in the Eastern Cape province
found that 50% of applicants for RDO positions failed the medical – partly owing to
the prevalence of HIV-AIDS. Implats still hired 400 new RDOs, but hiring in Gauteng
for RDO positions is a more difficult task.
“It’s physically a more demanding job and people don’t want to do it,’ says Johan
Theron, a spokesman for Implats, of the RDO role. “We are trying to apply incentives
for the job but the union – the National Union of Mineworkers [NUM] – wants the
same benefits for all,’ he says.
Is the NUM guilty of looking after its own membership, and its fees, rather than
working in the interests of Implats employers?
Partly. NUM extracts 1% of employee salaries monthly and it is therefore bad
business to see member numbers fall. So it wants improved benefits for all its
members.
But NUM’s position is also a principled one: it is seeking equal treatment for all
employees, which asks of Implats, and other miners, to take the approach of
treating employees fairly, not differently.
Perhaps there’s a way of re-grading the RDO position that helps the company
circumvent the current approach of applying a wage increase – the issue that had
aroused such indignation among workers.
One has to be careful, however, when talking about indignation. On the face of it,
worker dissatisfaction with RDO payments were a vocal minority, probably stirred by
the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).
Amcu later distanced itself from the violence and anger in Rustenburg, but according
to one long-standing labour relations expert, this is the modus operandi of Amcu’s
maverick leader, Joseph Mathunjwa; maverick, because his union is not aligned with
Cosatu or any other umbrella organisation.
“If you are able to combine religion, politics and worker grievances, then you’ve got it
made in South African union life,’ says the source. And Mathunjwa has this ability in
spades, the source says. He’s also known for provoking on-mine outrages and then
abandoning the cause creating “a leaderless crusade’.
Is this what happened at Implats?
Amcu started at Douglas Colliery when it was still owned under Ingwe Coal, a
forerunner of BHP Billiton Energy SA (Becsa), and then migrated to the platinum
companies – especially as NUM has failed to serve its platinum miners quite in the
way former Deputy General-Secretary, Archie Palane, was able to.
But watch out, coal miners. The unconfirmed speculation is that Amcu is seeking to
relocate its offices to Limpopo province – currently a hub of coal mine developments –
possibly in search of fresh membership.
In the meantime, some perspective is necessary. According to one industry source,
the RDO work is not to be underestimated. “Look at it this way: depending on the
stoping width, you’ve got eight inches above you, you’re operating a machine that will
eventually make you go deaf, and it’s 26 degrees centigrade … and you’re working for
a few thousand rands a month?’
