VIOLENCE continued at the premises of Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold mines in South Africa as a strike called by the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU) moved into its second week today.
The company said in an announcement that while it continued to negotiate the terms of a peace pact with unions, the situation at Beatrix in the Free State and Driefontein on the West Rand – mines where AMCU has strong representation – remained “tense”.
Striking workers had caused damage to company property and were restricting access to the company’s operating mine sites, it said.
“These violent actions are in direct contravention of the interdict granted by the Labour Court to Sibanye-Stillwater on Thursday, 22 November 2018 and as a result are in contempt of court,” it said in the announcement.
“Sibanye-Stillwater respects the right of AMCU members to strike, and upholds the right of employees who wish to work to do so,” it said. “By their unlawful actions, striking employees are preventing other employees from exercising their right to work, thereby inflicting financial hardship on employees who do not wish to strike.”
The strike got off to the worst possible start when an employee was shot dead at Beatrix while a number of others were taken injured in hospital.
AMCU is seeking to get better terms for a three-year wage deal already accepted by other unions including the National Union of Mineworkers.
Sibanye-Stillwater said last week: “The average basic wages for category 4-8 employees have increased by more than 65% since Sibanye-Stillwater was unbundled from Gold Fields in 2013. This is significantly above inflation and represents a very real improvement in the standard of living of our employees”.
“The current wage agreement reached with NUM, Solidarity and UASA is again well in excess of inflation, but takes the longer term sustainability of the gold operations into consideration,” it said.
