Johannesburg - The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has been accused of grandstanding after it claimed yesterday that it had ensured fewer jobs were lost at Lonmin following discussions with management. The union earlier said it had saved jobs at the world’s biggest platinum producer through measures such as forming task teams that had identified gaps across divisions in the embattled company.
Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said through its intervention, 2 462 employees had agreed to voluntary severance packages, 493 were redeployed to other operations within the group, 1 297 employees were reskilled into new jobs within the company and 517 had left through natural attrition, which included illness.
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Mathunjwa said of the 6 000 employees who were targeted, only 87 employees lost their jobs. “As far as we are concerned we saved jobs in Lonmin,” Mathunjwa said. “We sat down and said there cannot be forced retrenchments without avoidance measures.”
But yesterday Lonmin dismissed Amcu’s claim, saying it had 5 108 employees less following a section 189 process with organised labour. In July, Lonmin said 6 000 jobs would be affected as part of its plan to reduce high cost production in an oversupplied market.
Lonmin has weathered a tough three years in which it battled with the Marikana massacre, a five-month wage strike and plunging platinum prices. It targeted the reduction of 100 000 ounces over two years to 650 000 ounces a year.
“We had a section 189 closeout meeting with Amcu on Monday, February 29. We announced at the meeting that we managed to reduce headcount by 5 108.
“We have successfully completed reskilling and redeployment of 1 297 affected employees and 91 are still completing the reskilling programme.
“We offered the remaining 87 employees various options to avoid retrenchment, but sadly these employees did not want to accept any of these options. We have subsequently managed to reduce the 87 to 75 and these employees are receiving their retrenchment letters today.”
The company said it expected the 75 to leave by tomorrow. Companies are required by law to hold section 189 consultations with labour in the event of possible job cuts when companies restructure their portfolios.
Earlier this week, David Sipunzi, the general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, Amcu’s arch rival, said a conservative figure of workers likely to be retrenched within the next three months was 36 773.
Mamokegthi Rea Molopyane, the founder and chief research analyst of Creative Voodoo Consulting, yesterday cautioned against the company’s dismissal of Amcu’s claim, given the union’s dominance in the platinum sector. “Amcu is dominant, vocal and very militant. The company can dismiss Amcu’s claim, but it will have put empirical evidence forward because the importance of the sector, it is about verified facts,” Molopyane said.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that David Msiza, the acting director-general in the Department of Mineral Resources, told Parliament yesterday that a deal struck between the government, companies and unions had prevented the immediate loss of 16 000 jobs in an industry hurt by a global commodities rout. He
told Parliament that the deal signed in August would keep the 16 000 jobs for now, while alternatives were being considered to save jobs.
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