ABSENT FRIENDS
Why Motlanthe’s deal is a false dawn
ONE can’t help but have some sympathy for Joseph Mathunjwa, president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).
Blamed for much of the continuing unrest in the mining industry, Mathunjwa was this week also accused of trying to “blackmail” parties into agreeing to its conditions before it would sign Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe’s agreement for a sustainable mining industry.
Signing the deal would have been important symbolically, particularly with wage talks in the sector due to start on Thursday with a prenegotiations workshop. This year’s talks are expected to be the most difficult since at least the start of democracy.
Demands are high — both Amcu and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have asked for a doubling of entrylevel wages.
Other unions are also asking for above-inflation increases from companies with unprofitable shafts and expensive payrolls. The spectre of Marikana remains at the back of everyone’s minds.
Hailed in banner headlines as a “new dawn” for the mining industry, Motlanthe’s agreement is hardly anything close.
For a start, it doesn’t say much at all: government, labour and business are basically recommitting them-
As expected, NUM is playing every card it can to delay Amcu’s recognition
selves to things that are already required in terms of the law, or that simply make good business sense.
If all parties live up to the promises in the deal, the mining industry will certainly become more attractive for investors and create jobs.
It’s not exactly a revolutionary plan. Many of the commitments have been on investors’ wish lists for years, like creating greater certainty and predictability in policy and regulations, addressing the challenges created by the migrant labour system and getting all parties to “act together to promote South Africa in the national interest”.
But government has, at least with the appointment of Motlanthe’s high-level rescue team that importantly includes ministers in the security cluster, finally shown the political will to at least try to address some of the issues that contributed to last year’s deadly strikes.
However, the deal doesn’t address some of the key issues that Mathunjwa and Amcu raised last week.
Amcu wants an end to the conflicts of interest that arise from politicians holding stakes in mining companies, ties between political parties and unions, and shop stewards and union officials doing business as subcontractors with companies where they organise.
Amcu also asked for an apology from Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande for his comments about Amcu and a call for support for the NUM at a South African Communist Party conference.
Nzimande’s thoughtless statements highlighted the unlevel playing field the tripartite alliance creates for new unions trying to win ground from Cosatu affiliates.
In addition, Amcu requested the reinstatement of fired workers at AngloGold Ashanti and Glencore Xstrata.
These issues were not included in Motlanthe’s final deal on Wednesday, hence Mathunjwa going back to his members before signing. This may take another two to three weeks, Mathunjwa said.
His insistence on a democratic approach, rubbished by other union leaders who signed the deal, highlights Amcu’s precarious situation.
It helps to remember how Amcu got entrenched in Rustenburg’s platinum mines in the first place.
Rock-drill operators at Impala Platinum — shortchanged in 2011 by their NUM negotiators who would have done better to pay more attention to democracy — came back to work after the Christmas holidays hugely disgruntled.
They abandoned the NUM, opting to negotiate with Impala through their own worker representatives. In the end, more than half of Impala’s workforce switched to Amcu.
A similar story played out at Lonmin and Anglo American Platinum, with worker committees — now under the Amcu umbrella — staging unprotected strikes and wage talks outside the traditional negotiating structures.
Big promises were made, and workers are still waiting for the goods to be delivered.
The worker committees enjoyed immense power during last year’s strikes.
One would imagine, nothing stops them from rejecting formal union structures again this year if they feel their voices are not heard.
If that happened, it would spell the end of Amcu’s shortlived dominance on the platinum belt.
Hence Mathunjwa going back to members before inking any deal.
The reinstatement of fired members is another crucial battle that Mathunjwa would want to win.
Last year, tens of thousands of workers participating in unprotected strikes were reinstated — which explains why fired Amcu members at AngloGold Ashanti and Glencore Xstrata expect the same.
In addition to the challenge of building the capacity and running an organisation that has grown rapidly — some estimates are that Amcu’s membership grew by more than 100 000 since the start of last year — Amcu has been forced to jump through myriad legal loopholes to get recognition agreements in place.
Amcu won’t be bullied into decisions that could affect our members negatively
As expected, the NUM is playing every card it can to delay Amcu’s recognition.
This includes running to court at every opportunity to fight verification processes and prevent the shutdown of union offices on mines where it has lost its majority status.
Companies, eager to avoid a repeat of 2012, want to sign more inclusive union deals to keep NUM’s seat at the table in the lower bargaining units — deals that were almost unheard of just a year ago, and agreements that Amcu obviously doesn’t want.
Nobody knows whether Amcu will “hit the iceberg”, as one union official put it this week, or entrench itself as a serious rival to NUM. What it won’t do, in the words of Mathunjwa, is “be bullied into decisions that could affect our members negatively”.
Buckle up for a rough ride.