The world’s biggest producer of the metal said 11% of its workers went on strike on Monday, less than a week after a state-sponsored peace accord failed to win unanimous agreement from unions.
About 5 600 striking workers are demanding that suspended officials from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) are reinstated, the Johannesburg-based company known as Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said in a statement today. Aside from reversing the ban on the officials for joining a sit-in protest, the workers also want job cuts scrapped and a guarantee that a rival union be banished from Amplats mines.
Amcu was the only labour union that last week refused to sign the agreement aimed at bringing stability to the South African mining industry as wage negotiations begin. Falling precious metal prices are constraining companies’ ability to meet union wage demands higher than a year ago, when strikes spilled over into violence that led to at least 44 deaths.
Workers at Amplats’s Thembelani and Khuseleka 1 mines have started an unauthorised strike, Amplats said in the statement. Production was disrupted at Thembelani last night and at both mines this morning, it said.
Jeff Mphahlele, general secretary for Amcu, said some of the union’s members didn’t go to work at Thembelani, declining to give further details.
Union rivalry
Today’s strike follows the suspension of Amcu officials by Amplats following alleged vandalism of offices belonging to the United Association of South Africa (Uasa) union and a subsequent underground sit-in protest last month, said Franz Stehring, a UASA official.
Union rivalry between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Amcu, which has been winning employees from NUM, has escalated tensions at mines across the country. Last month miners at Thembelani, about 120km northwest of Johannesburg, temporarily trapped 2 400 of their colleagues underground as part of a union dispute.
The striking workers are demanding Amplats give a guarantee that NUM won’t be allowed to return to the company’s operations, Amplats said today.
The unions’ rivalry has led to three workers’ deaths since May in the Rustenburg area. Last year’s violence included the deaths of 34 protesters killed by police in a single day near Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine.
Amplats is planning to cut 6 000 jobs as part of an effort to return to profit by idling three shafts and reducing annual output by 35 0000 ounces of metal. Talks with unions about the proposal are due to end on August 10.
Court Action
Lonmin, the world’s third-largest platinum producer, said today that the NUM has brought a court application relating to its membership numbers and those of Amcu. The platinum producer said it couldn’t comment further before the hearing. NUM is disputing the authenticity of Amcu’s membership numbers, spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said last week.
“The company’s wider position remains that it wishes the issue of union status at its operations to be resolved peacefully, and as quickly as possible, for the benefit of all stakeholders,” Lonmin said in the statement.
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe was appointed by President Jacob Zuma to broker a solution to mine labor unrest, leading to last week’s peace accord. The agreement was signed by the Chamber of Mines, which represents producers, government departments and labor unions apart from Amcu, which is led by former NUM official Joseph Mathunjwa.
Peace Appeal
“Anglo American Platinum would like to urge all employees and their union representatives to live by the spirit of the deputy president’s peace and stability framework and to promote the peaceful co-existence of all the recognised unions at our operations,” Amplats said in its statement.
The rand declined 0.3% against the US dollar to $10.22 at 12.29pm in Johannesburg, extending this year’s drop to 17%. Amplats rose 0.5% to R281.04.
While platinum has dropped 13% this year, gold is 27% lower. A weaker gold price is hampering the ability of producers of the metal to meet wage demands, according to the Chamber of Mines.
The mines chamber today hosts a pre-wage negotiation meeting with unions aimed at winning agreement on how talks will be conducted.
Entry-level underground gold miners receive a minimum wage of R5 000 rand ($487) a month. Amcu is seeking to more double this figure to R12 500 rand while NUM wants a 60% increase. – Bloomberg