The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) looks set to ignore Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe’s efforts to bring stability to the mining sector by embarking on yet another wildcat strike, despite a meeting with him this week.
This as North West police declared their readiness for the impending strike, which Lonmin says is illegal.
Police spokesman Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said police already stationed around the mines as part of Operation Platinum Belt would ensure that there was compliance with the law should the strike go ahead.
Amcu confirmed that workers would embark on a strike at Lonmin’s volatile Marikana operations on Tuesday if a recognition agreement was not signed with Lonmin by tomorrow, which is highly unlikely to happen, as Lonmin has referred this matter for arbitration on June 26.
A few weeks ago, the Labour Court stopped Lonmin from evicting the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on May 30 and gave the union until July 16, the day its recognition agreement would expire.
NUM has been on the back foot in the North West platinum mines, with Impala Platinum rescinding recognition and starting talks for a recognition agreement with Amcu in February.
The Labour Court was again asked to intervene after Lonmin employees went on another illegal strike following the murder of Amcu regional leader Steve Khululekile.
The court declared the strike illegal and ordered Amcu leaders to end the protest action.
Negotiations took place this week with a government team led by Motlanthe, who has been tasked by President Jacob Zuma to lead efforts to bring stability to mining by helping find a truce between Amcu and NUM.
Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant also sought to bring rival unions to negotiations.
Leaders of NUM and Amcu, Senzeni Zokwana and Joseph Mathunjwa respectively, emerged from the meeting at loggerheads and continued their public spats on media platforms throughout the week.
Motlanthe’s spokesman, Thabo Masebe, said Motlanthe was continuing with the process and had met some of the mining sector stakeholders, including unions.
“The deputy president’s role really is to assist the mining sector to avoid a crisis.
“President Zuma emphasised that the economy was facing difficulties and the challenges in the mining sector were not easing the situation,” Masebe said.
He said declining demand for commodities obviously affected it.
Masebe said Motlanthe had met Amcu, Uasa, Fedusa, NUM and its federation Cosatu for initial talks on the issues.
Motlanthe had also met the Chamber of Mines to discuss the instability in the platinum belt.
Lonmin is not the only mining company to resort to courts in its battle against the wildcat strikes.
Mining companies that include ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa’s Shanduka Coal are fighting illegal strikes in court.
Rock Safe Mining hauled Amcu to the Labour Court this week in a bid to stop a wildcat strike.
The company’s lawyer, Dale Hinrichsen, told The Sunday Independent Amcu members from one shaft had demanded to be paid early despite the company having already deposited their salaries through Ubank.
He said the matter was eventually settled by an agreement between Rock Safe Mining and Amcu.
Shanduka Coal was successful in its bid to stop an illegal strike by about 660 workers at Graspan Colliery, Mpumalanga, in November.
Workers at Shanduka Coal, a supplier to Eskom, were unhappy about bonuses they were paid in July and August last year.
In court, Shanduka Coal’s Daniel Joubert said the company was losing R3.9 million a day in revenue because of the go-slow, which saw production drop from 13 truck loads of coal an hour to four.
Both Amcu and NUM took part in the go-slow, said Joubert.
Lonmin has not commented on the possibility of a strike after Tuesday, but said it was working on finalising the agreement with Amcu through arbitration at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) after it initially failed.
“Lonmin is working towards concluding a new union recognition agreement with Amcu that gives it full organisational rights…” the company said. - The Sunday Independent