Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant will meet mining unions and their federations ahead of the bargaining season in the sector, the labour department said on Monday.
Oliphant's spokesperson Musa Zondi told the South African Press Association the meeting was part of the tasks President Jacob Zuma assigned to various Cabinet ministers to deal with labour relations in the mining sector.
On Monday, Oliphant would meet the Cosatu and the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) and their affiliates, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).
"The meeting is to improve labour relations in the mining sector, but also recognising that now is the beginning of the negotiating season. As you know, with the platinum sector, the negotiating season starts now," he said.
Zuma tasked Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to lead interactions with unions and mining companies.
Assistants
Motlanthe would be assisted by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Oliphant and Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu.
Zondi said the ministers already started their work and Zuma wanted them to accelerate their engagement with unions and mining companies.
In the meeting, Oliphant would urge all parties to adhere to all the principles of the collective bargaining framework.
"The minister cannot prescribe what unions should demand, but she can … say whatever happens, we should put the interest of the country at the centre of everything that we are doing," Zondi said.
Labour relations in the mining sector have taken centre stage since the killing of 44 people at Lonmin's Marikana mine last year.
Tensions between rival unions the NUM and Amcu have intensified in the platinum sector, leading to strikes.
NUM shut out at Lonmin
Meanwhile, Lonmin has agreed to grant union threshold rights to the Amcu, shutting rival NUM out of collective bargaining, Business Day reported on Monday.
Lonmin human resources head Abey Kgotle told Business Day that the company agreed during negotiations at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration that it would set threshold rights of 35% for basic rights and 45% for collective bargaining and rights to full-time shop stewards. Rights for a majority union would stand at 50%.
A trade union would need to achieve these levels of representation in the workforce for it to enjoy the specified rights.
Amcu currently represented 70% of unskilled workers and machine operators in bargaining unit one, Business Day reported.
This meant that the NUM would not have organisational rights among the low-skilled workers.
Lonmin operations has been a battleground between Amcu and the NUM, whose members now made up only 20% of the workforce.
Involving the employer
Labour law expert, Tony Healy, said the jury was still out on how prudent a move it was to hold talks with labour, adding that the employer needed to be involved.
On the one hand, he said, it was encouraging to see the minister engaging with labour, especially against the backdrop of labour unrest in the mining sector which impacts on micro- and-macro-economic issues. However, it would have been better to hold trilateral talks with mining bosses included to address issues like mistrust in the sector.
He said the industry wants to believe that Oliphant’s moves are well-intended. “But at the end of the day she [Oliphant] has a divided labour grouping who doesn’t only have major issues with mine owners but also issues with each other.
“The NUM is aligned with Cosatu and the ANC, who is ultimately the minister’s employer. So from AMCU’s side, there has to be a huge sense of suspicion around the minister’s motive.”
Healy said this was especially important on the back of “partisan comments” made by Minerals Resources Minister Susan Shabangu at the NUM’s recent conference.
“And done no matter how well-intended it [Monday’s meeting] may be, there’s a degree of inconsistency when the minerals minister said what she said, and the labour minister organises a ‘kumbaya’ meeting with labour.
“If there was a genuine concern about what could go on in the wage negotiations, the time could have been better spent in trilateral meetings. Perhaps a memorandum of understanding could have been signed that would ensure stability during the wage negotiations.”
Tense rivalry
Healy added that “the worst is yet to come” with regards to the rivalry between unions NUM and AMCU. And it was dangerous for the ANC to be seen to be “cosying up” to one social partner while excluding the other. Doing this would do more harm than good, despite the minister’s intentions, he said.
Jonathan Goldberg, chief executive at Global Business Solutions, agreed with the sentiment that business must not be excluded from the talks. He said Oliphant needed to ensure the sector that government was committed to playing an impartial, third party role, whose interests were about what was best for the economy.
Therefore, Oliphant needed to arrange meetings with mining bosses, too. He said initial wage demands from unions, 60% increases in the mining sector and 20% in the metals sector, would result in further retrenchments and further weakening of the rand.
“This ultimately affects the poor as a weakened rand means higher fuel and food prices.”
He said Oliphant needed to send a message to labour that their differences needed to be set aside “for the greater good of the economy”. Unions and employers needed to agree to seek third party arbitration in the event that wage talks deadlock, instead of moving for strike action.
“If I were Oliphant, Id’ be trying to find a platform for quick solutions to wage deadlocks. We need to put aside our differences and look for solutions that are palatable to the economy,” Goldberg said. – Additional reporting by Sapa