Crisis looms as Amcu rejects gold sector pay deal

MINING companies say they will take a hard line against a second strike in the gold sector and will interdict any move by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) to embark on new industrial action over wages.

The stage is now set for a new and far messier showdown in the gold sector, with Amcu indicating its members do not accept the agree- ment reached between the Chamber and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) last week. The chamber argues such a strike would be unprotected.

These developments indicate that the next phase of the dispute over wages could be more protracted than the short and peaceful three-day NUM strike.

Gold producers have stressed from the start that they will not make a separate deal with any union. Employer chief negotiator Elize Strydom said yesterday Amcu would not receive any more than the 8% secured by the NUM and insisted the wage agreement would be extended to all employees.

The further implication of this, according to the chamber, is that the dispute was over and any further strikes would be unprotected. “You cannot strike over an agreement that is valid and in existence,” Ms Strydom said.

“The new wage agreement is valid and makes any strike unpro- tected. To stop a strike we would therefore approach the labour court for an interdict.”

But Amcu has a different interpretation of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and says that having followed all legal procedures to this point, it still has a right to embark on a legal and protected strike.

Amcu national treasurer Jimmy Gama said while the chamber was within its rights to extend the agreement to all employees, this “did not mean that Amcu members had accepted the offer”. “Extending an agreement doesn’t prohibit our right to go on strike. Our rights remain reserved until we sign that agreement,” he said.

An Amcu strike would only affect mines where the union is in the majority. This includes three of the largest and richest gold mines in SA — AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine, Harmony’s Kusasalethu and Sibanye’s Driefontein. These three

mines are in Carletonville. At a rally on Sunday, Amcu members reiterated their demand for an entry level wage of R12, 500, an increase of more than 100%. Further, they demanded additional cash increases of about R7,500 for all other categories of workers.

With an interdict threatened, the next point of contention between Amcu and the chamber will be the interpretation of the Labour Relations Act.

Ms Strydom said the chamber’s view was that where a collective agreement explicitly stated “to whom (which parties) it applies, then if those who sign represent a majority, it can be made applicable to all other members”. The three union signatories represented 72% of all employees in the industry.

But several labour law experts said they believed that this interpretation was on shaky ground. “I do not think that the LRA permits the chamber to extend the agreement to all employees in the gold industry,” said Bowman Gilfillan director and labour lawyer John Brand.

“It may be extended to all employees in a workplace, provided that the signatory unions are representative in each workplace.”

This is not the case in the Carletonville mines where Amcu holds a majority. Two other experts agreed. “In workplaces where the three unions are not a majority then the agreement does not cover them,” said one.

“Employees could then embark on a protected strike, assuming they had followed the law to that point.”

Amcu and the chamber are due to meet tomorrow.

While Amcu said it hoped to engage on the wage dispute, Ms Strydom said that no further negotiations would take place.

Ms Strydom said employers hoped to persuade Amcu to “collaborate” on elements of the agreement.

For instance, Amcu had demanded that a task team be established to look into the indebtedness of miners and this was captured in the settlement.

“When we meet I will say to Amcu: ‘Come on board and work with us’.”