Women are slowly beginning to make their mark in wage bargaining on the mines, territory that has long been dominated by men.
Dr Elize Strydom, the chief negotiator at the Chamber of Mines, is one of the few female negotiators who is making her presence felt inside the bargaining rooms.
Although Strydom appears shy, and prefers to stay away from the limelight, her knowledge of labour issues has earned her accolades from her peers.
”My approach is to be dignified, be calm as much as possible and listen to what the parties have got to say and don’t say. I don’t approach negotiations from the perspective that this is a man talking to me. I say this is a negotiator talking to me. He has a demand and has to motivate it and I want to hear what the motivations are so that I can respond appropriately,” said Strydom in an interview with the Mail & Guardian this week.
After working for 13 years at the University of South Africa, as a lecturer, Strydom joined the Chamber of Mines in 2001 as an industrial relations manager. In 2002 she was promoted to the position of industrial relations deputy adviser. She took over from Frans Barker as the chief negotiator at the Chamber in 2003. Among the qualifications she holds is BA degree in Law from the University of Pretoria, a master’s degree and a doctorate in law from Unisa, with a specialisation in company law, income tax law and labour law.
Apart from her position as the Chamber’s chief negotiator, Strydom also represents the mining houses within Business Unity South Africa (Busa) and she represents business at Nedlac.
With thousands of mine workers threatening to down tools in protest against the employers’ 6% wage offer, Strydom will need to apply her skills and negotiations experience more effectively than ever in an attempt to find a settlement that will make both the mining bosses and the unionists happy.
But with the unions pushing for a 15% wage increase — along with 61 other demands — it appears unlikely that there will be a settlement soon. Strydom admits the difficulties.
”First there are 62 demands on the table. And the demand for a 15% wage increase is but one of the 62 demands. That’s the most demands we have ever had during wage negotiation. I checked — in 2005 we had 25 demands.”
”What I said to the unions is, let’s look at all your demands and see where we can go. I told them that we want to make a solid wage offer, but the more money you expect me to put into these other demands, the less money I’m going to put into the wage offer,” said Strydom.