Johannesburg - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) had secured exclusive union rights for workers at platinum producer Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat), it said yesterday.
NUM represented 80 percent of RBPlat’s workforce of about 7 000, and said workers at the company’s four mines had voted overwhelmingly last week in favour of the agreement.
The deal will keep out the hardline Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) at RBPlat. Amcu unseated the NUM as the largest union in the platinum sector in a bloody turf war, and has frequently called its members out on strikes.
Under the NUM’s “closed shop agreement” with RBPlat, employees who are already members of the NUM will not be able to join other unions, while all new staff that wish to join a union will have to join the NUM.
RBPlat signed a wage agreement with the NUM in 2014 and was not affected by a record five-month strike in the platinum sector that took the economy to the brink of recession.
“The parties recognise that sound industrial relations hold benefits for the members of the trade union, the company and all other stakeholders in the business,” the agreement said.
RBPlat shares were down 1.38 percent yesterday to close at R41.51.
REUTERS