Johannesburg - The Workers Association Union (WAU), a new union in the platinum belt that plans to challenge the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) strike, was launched at the weekend.
Security was tight at the Ben Marais Hall in Rustenburg where 250 people gathered to hear the WAU’s plans to end the protracted strike and bring stability to the sector.
The union promised to provide solutions to employees by listening to the workers’ demands and negotiating with employers to the best of its ability, Adam Selaledi, the union’s president, said.
He said that the union had 8 000 members mainly from Lonmin, Impala Platinum and Anglo American Platinum, and about 1 200 from petrol garages and retail stores in the area.
WAU, which has been active for eight months, expected to organise employees in the mining, energy, construction and retail sectors around the country, Selaledi said. “A strike must be the very last resort, we will put workers’ demand forward… The employer is not our enemy, we have common problems including the economy of Rustenburg.
“Everyone wants to work but intimidation is an issue at the mines.”
The WAU still has to answer when it is likely to gain recognition at the mines and verify its membership as employees at platinum companies have been on strike for over a month. It is also unclear whether it will manage to reach the 35 percent recognition threshold set by Amcu when it became the majority union at Lonmin last year.
About 70 000 Amcu members are on strike for a R12 500 a month minimum wage.
Erick Gcilitshana, the health and safety secretary for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), said: “It [WAU] is not a threat. It is going to increase confusion and lead to the fragmentation of the trade union objective of one union, one sector.”
The majority of WAU members are disgruntled NUM and Amcu workers, including Selaledi who served as NUM deputy head of health and safety in Rustenburg, and Eliphas Ngako Ngoepe, WAU’s secretary-general, a former NUM chairman of the Rustenburg region who was voted out in 2009.
The WAU is negotiating for recognition at some mines.
Selaledi said the trade union would change the lives of people.
The strike has hurt the industry, which has lost R4.4 billion in revenue while employees have lost R1.94bn in wages.
“The current strike is bringing poverty to the people. We don’t support the strike, we don’t see a reason why our members must be part of the strike,” Selaledi said.
Selaledi confirmed that disgruntled Amcu and NUM members were part of the new trade union.
“When you divorce your wife you have your own reasons, whether you disclose the reasons it’s up to you. I am saying members are coming from different unions”.
The WAU is up against serious opposition as Amcu has more than 100 000 members.