Johannesburg - Unless money is found - and fast, it could well be the beginning of the end for workers at the troubled Lily Mine, south of Barberton in Mpumalanga.
Operations at the mine were halted after a rock fall on February 5 which resulted in three mineworkers being trapped underground. They have still not been found after several rescue efforts were cancelled due to further earth tremors.
But those who escaped death are not necessarily the lucky ones as they now face the uncertainty of drawing their salaries.
The mine employs 650 permanent employees and about 250 contractors, says Gideon du Plessis, general secretary of trade union Solidarity.
The mine has already applied for business rescue as the management claim it is no longer able to generate an income due to halted operations. Those close to the situation suspect that the main reason for Makonjwaan Imperial Mining Company (Mimco) - the company that owns Lily Mine, to lodge the business rescue application “was to protect the company against any possible liquidation application from one of their creditors for outstanding debt”.
The major creditor is owed R5-million.
Solidarity says it supports the business rescue application: “Chapter 6 of the Company Act makes provision for a financially distressed company to apply for business rescue and one of the benefits is that it limits any form of litigation regarding outstanding debt. Another benefit is it gives more protection to employees compared to a liquidation process where all employment contracts are terminated when a liquidation order gets issued - in business rescue any changes to the employment conditions of the workers or retrenchment, must be done according to the guidelines set by the Labour Relations Act and allows any union who have a member or members at the workplace to act on behalf of its members.
“Solidarity therefore supports the business rescue process and was very impressed in all the dealings we had so far with Rob Devereux, the senior business rescue practitioner appointed to temporarily take over the running of the business.”
But Solidarity does not speak for all workers, the majority of whom belong to Amcu. Earlier in the week Devereux had issued the workers with letters to make the banks aware of their situation.
The letter indicated the workers would not be paid on April 25 but that the company would make attempts to pay the salaries on or before April 29.
This is clearly the language workers do not understand and they were visibly aggrieved at the mass meeting called on Thursday to appraise them regarding the situation.
The meeting was addressed by, among others, Mike Begg of the mine management.
Says du Plessis: “There was major unhappiness amongst the employees yesterday (Thursday) when they were told in the first mass meeting that was held between employees and Devereux that they will not be paid on Monday (tomorrow).”
“Employees had to scramble to inform the banks and other creditors that debit orders will not go through on Monday due to the non-payment of salaries.”
“Employees were already unhappy that since the mine accident occurred on 5 February 2016, they only receive their basic salaries and not any payment for overtime work or their allowances for call-out duties, although the latter are recorded and registered for future payment whenever the company or BRP can secure funding in the short term.
If not, then the employees will have to submit a future claim as so-called preferred creditors and income or funding that eventually get generated, will put employees first in line before any other creditor for payment of outstanding salaries, overtime pay, outstanding leave pay and allowances.”
“The end result of the non-payment of the employee’s full remuneration means that employees are cash-strapped and find it difficult to get to work, and although a large number are not fully utilised, they still have to report for work.”
Already Solidarity is beginning to prepare its members for the worst as the mine’s financial prospects do not look promising. In the meantime those outside Solidarity live on hope - that the mine will find money somewhere to keep paying their salaries.
Some workers have already threatened mayhem if the salary situation does not improve and they are not paid on Monday.
Sunday Independent