Amcu, gold producers in talks

President of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union Joseph Mathunjwa. Photo: Dumisane Dube

President of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union Joseph Mathunjwa. Photo: Dumisane Dube

Published Apr 21, 2015

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Rustenburg - The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) met gold producers on Tuesday in a bid to resolve a dispute over membership numbers ahead of wage talks scheduled to take place in the next month, spokeswoman for the producers Charmane Russell said.

“The meeting was very constructive and cordial. The companies and AMCU will meet again next week to further clarify any areas on which there is not a common understanding,” she said.

AMCU maintains its membership stood at 40 000, while the gold producers believe the union has a membership of 27 304, or 29 percent of the 94 607 workers in the sector.

“This is based on payroll deductions at the end of February 2015, but excludes employees from Gold Fields. [Gold Fields is no longer part of centralised negotiations],” she said.

According to the gold producers, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has a membership of 51,051 (54 percent), the United Association of South Africa (UASA) 6261 (two percent), Solidarity 2312 (seven percent), while 7679 (eight percent) of workers were not unionised.

She said every stop order request was scrutinised and verified by the companies.

“The figures that have been reported are aligned with payroll deductions and have not changed significantly in recent months. The companies have no reason to report incorrect information,” she said.

The current wage agreement in the gold sector runs until the end of June. Negotiations were expected to begin in May or June.

ANA

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