Business Day

Self-interest pushing SA into danger zone

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MINING industry players reacted with outrage at Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu’s comments that the gold industry should consider revisiting its two-year wage agreement, which expires only in June. The reason for the anger is that she openly criticised Impala Platinum for giving a wage hike to a group of its workers outside a salary agreement with the National Union of Mineworker­s (NUM), and blamed the rampant strikes crippling the mining sector on this move.

The argument is that she is now advocating that gold and coal miners do exactly the same thing and forgo the current two-year collective wage agreement by starting early talks with the unions over wages and other issues as a way to resolve the wildcat strikes of recent weeks.

The Chamber of Mines points out that to do so would render such collective wage agreements “not worth the paper they’re written on”.

Of course, Ms Shabangu’s position is no different to that of the Congress of South African Trade Unions and its affiliate, the NUM, but the mining companies are wary of criticisin­g the NUM too fiercely for fear of making an apparently intractabl­e labour situation worse.

It is clear the NUM has lost much of its dominance on the mines around Rustenburg, the core of the labour unrest, yet the industry needs a strong, representa­tive union.

From once calling on workers to return to their jobs, the NUM has ramped up the rhetoric and is pushing for companies to increase wages despite knowing full well if excessive wage demands are met, the downsizing of workforces will follow.

Politics and self-interest from the ANC and its union partners, as well as increasing­ly hard-nosed attitudes from mining bosses, are pushing the country into dangerous territory.

PICK n Pay finally has a CEO. After a near eight-month search, an outsider has been chosen to take the helm, the third CEO since founder Raymond Ackerman stepped down in 1999.

Most analysts agree that Richard Brasher, the former CE of Tesco’s UK operations, has what it will take to change the fortunes of the ailing grocer. Tesco and Pick n Pay show clear similariti­es — the local retail environmen­t is as sophistica­ted and competitiv­e as that of the UK — and Brasher is an innovative manager.

He is credited as the creator of the convenienc­e food category and developer of Tesco’s “Clubcard” programme, as well as being responsibl­e for Tesco’s entire supply base. He could certainly help to develop Pick n Pay’s loyalty card programme, which has signed up about 5.7-million members but needs some work to be successful. And there is room for improvemen­t in its supply chain.

Still, it can’t be ignored that Brasher’s “big price drop” campaign failed to deliver the sales boost Tesco needed, and the retailer has lagged behind its competitor­s. Of course, economic conditions in the UK have been particular­ly difficult during the past few years.

Dave Marrs edits Company Comment (marrsd@bdfm.co.za)

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