Amcu scorns Sibanye pay deal

● Amcu will continue with its strike at Sibanye-Stillwater mines until three other unions can prove that they have a combined majority at the company’s operations.

This comes after Sibanye this week extended a wage agreement signed with NUM, Uasa and Solidarity to all workers on the grounds that these unions now represent the majority of employees.

Joseph Mathunjwa, the president of Amcu, said on Friday that Amcu rejects the majority status of the three unions and that the onus was on the company and those unions to prove their membership.

“Sibanye is falsifying the numbers,” he said, adding that Amcu had not received resignation letters from any members.

“As far as we are concerned we are still on strike,” Mathunjwa said. The strike was still protected as Amcu had not received notification indicating otherwise. But members could decide to return to work, he said.

James Wellsted, head of investor relations at Sibanye, said on Thursday that the collective membership of NUM, Uasa and Solidarity was now more than 50%, representing a majority, and allowed the company to extend the offer to all other employees in terms of the Labour Relations Act.

Amcu accused Sibanye of using “underhanded tactics” to recruit members for its rivals and enticing workers who do not belong to any union.

Wellsted said: “We ... reject the accusation that any underhanded tactics have been employed by the company. We have been forthright and open in all engagements with Amcu. The movement of employees to other unions is a demonstration that the majority of our employees strongly wish to exercise their right to work and provide for their families, despite significant intimidation from striking workers.”

He added that Sibanye reserved its right to legal recourse in regard to the accusation it had sponsored violence. Wellsted said mineworkers who had not resumed work by yesterday faced disciplinary action.

The three-week strike at Sibanye’s gold mines, Kloof and Driefontein in Carletonville and Beatrix in the Free State, has resulted in three deaths.

Amcu wanted a basic salary of R12,500 a month, with an increase of R1,000 a month in the next two years of the three-year wage deal. Other unions agreed to a R700-amonth increase in the first and second year and R825 in the third year.

Amcu called on NUM and other unions not to be used by “white monopoly capitalists” to further divide workers. In response to allegations by Amcu, David Sipunzi, NUM general secretary, said Amcu was “a vigilante union of killers” and asked why it was killing people if its strike was protected.

Sipunzi said the unions were not entirely satisfied with what they had negotiated but their members had given them the mandate to sign.

“We signed because our members said, rather than [us] taking down this company, let’s accept [the deal] they are giving,” he said.

● This is the last full edition of Business Times for 2018. Please look for business news in the Sunday Times from next week.

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