INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS Landscape changes significantly
The negotiations prior to the new recognition agreement signed with the Association of Construction & Mineworkers Union (Amcu), the new majority union at Lonmin, were among the most challenging that Abey Kgotle, executive vice-president Human Resources, has been part of. The agreement was signed in August this year.
“The industrial relations landscape changed significantly following the Marikana tragedy last year, necessitating the creation of a new industrial relations framework. The fact that the negotiations took place amid serious legal and negotiation challenges made it even more challenging.
“We eventually agreed on a three-tier recognition system and the establishment of a single bargaining structure. The recognition agreement concluded is in line with the requirements of the current Labour Relations Act and similar to agreements concluded elsewhere in the industry,” says Kgotle.
“We are actively engaging with our minority unions in order to find a way forward as we believe that the voice of every employee matters. Minority unions are party to this year’s wage negotiations.”
He expects the wage negotiations, which started last month, to be extremely challenging.
Before his promotion to his current post he was engaged in several roles in the company, with the most recent being head of external affairs, where his responsibilities had a wider ambit.
“I count completion of extensive community consultations as part of our community value proposition programme and the preparation of the new five-year Social & Labour Plan (SLP) among my achievements of the past year.
“We have prepared a new community investment programme that will play a critical role towards improving living conditions Abey Kgotle Creating a new industrial relations framework has been necessary priority. We have spent time with our employees, listening and responding to issues and have also bolstered our communications and management capability,” says Kgotle. Examples include the Leadership Staircase Project and the Vulindlela Team Building initiative.
“The critical challenge is to deliver on our transformation commitments. We have set a target of 40% representation for historically disadvantaged South Africans in management by the end of next year. We are also looking at an employee share ownership scheme for employees. This is in addition to a community ownership trust to boost the economic participation in the company and delivering on our legal obligation of 26% BBBEE equity by December 2014.”