A landmark agreement binding mine bosses and labour in a shared commitment to saving thousands of mineworker’s jobs is under threat.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the Free State has given notice to Harmony Gold Mining Company that about 20 000 mineworkers will embark on a strike on October 6 over the company’s plan to retrench more than 4 000 workers and close five shafts.
The agreement is a five-page memorandum of understanding between Harmony, the NUM and the white union Solidarity — which usually have conflicting agendas — to take measures to avoid compulsory retrenchments in the face of the strong rand.
“The strike does not mean the collapse of the agreement. It is a warning to certain Harmony managers who are intent on undermining the agreement,” said Gwede Mantashe, NUM general secretary.
The agreement, signed in July this year, is based on eight principles. These include the introduction of continuous operations (conops) at marginal shafts; the offer of voluntary redundancy for workers; the identification of points of growth and decline in the group; and an effort to determine how surplus labour can be redeployed.
The five shafts that Harmony intends to close — Bambanani, Welkom 1, Eland, M3 and Masimong — have become “points of decline” as a result of the rand’s strengthening.
NUM spokesperson Moferefere Lekorotsoan accused mine management of reneging on clauses in the agreement stipulating that before closing shafts, the mines should redeploy workers to “points of growth” or introduce conops.
Ferdi Dippenaar, Harmony’s marketing director, insisted that “the labour at the [five affected shafts] are in excess of the company’s needs” despite the introduction of conops.
“The conops are the cornerstone of the agreement — these shafts operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The idea is that mines will become more efficient and absorb labour from the operations that are to be closed or scaled down.
Dippenaar said most South African gold mines operate for about 273 days a year. “The successful introduction of continuous operations can increase this number to 353 days per year, excluding public holidays. This will result in a 12% increase in labour on the shafts as well as a 5% reduction in unit cost per tonne.” More than 80% of Harmony’s operations are at different stages of becoming conops.
The plan is for additional “surplus labour” to be dealt with through a voluntary retrenchment programme. However, Dippenaar said that the 4 000 workers targeted for retrenchment would not be given a choice.
“It’s all part of the agreed process,” he said. If voluntary severance could not account for the number of jobs that had to be shed, forced retrenchments kicked in.
Dippenaar said the company was continuing negotiations with the unions to find ways to avoid forced retrenchments, “which will strengthen the agreement”.
Harmony employs 53 000 people. In the first quarter of this year the company’s profits fell 50%.