Unions must sit down and talk
Game Change | With newcomer Amcu emerging in an increasingly problematic industry, mining leaders and workers face a new set of challenges and risks
SOUTH Africa faces the real risk of ending up with a mining industry paralysed by high cost structures, low morale and low productivity.
That would lead to a reduction in local and international investment and be a tragedy for our economy as mining contributes to growth, transformation and employment creation.
Our mining industry was a transformation trailblazer in 2002 with the promulgation of the Minerals Petroleum Resources Development Act and the mining charter.
The mining industry has also contributed to society in other ways, including through several employee shareownership structures and a great improvement in safety from 209 fatalities in 2001 to 110 last year.
There have of course been challenges and serious failures , but they were not due to lack of action or resistance from mining companies.
The NUM and Amcu must participate in national structures
These challenges, which could well be described as the elephant in the room, include accelerating transformation for the benefit of all and the critical need to reposition our industry to be competitive and deal with pay, productivity and costs. But they also include the need to address the socioeconomic issues facing the communities within which we operate.
The industry is also facing a tough trading environment. I often refer to mining as an industry of short, beautiful summers and long, cold winters. Right now we are in the middle of a long, cold winter.
The mining industry is facing global headwinds such as the recession in Europe, the slowdown in China’s economic growth and the potential slowdown in quantitative easing by central banks, which have reduced demand and prices for minerals.
The gold price is at $1 215 an ounce, platinum group metals are facing demand and supply issues, with the price of platinum at $1 311 an ounce. The coal price (API 4) out of Richards Bay is about $80 a ton.
At these prices, more than half of the gold and platinum mining companies’ operating shafts run at a loss.
Is our industry facing labour relations turmoil? No. This may sound like denial and naivety on my part, but I am involved and fully understand and appreciate the issues and the magnitude of their impact on our country and the world.
Our industry is facing a game-changing event in the labour relations arena, and this relates to the emergence of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu). It is a game changer in the following sense:
For seasoned wage negotiators who have interacted with the NUM, Solidarity and Uasa for 10 to 30 years, Amcu is the new or additional union on the other side of the table;
For the employee who elected to resign from the other unions and join Amcu, there is new representation regarding grievances, disciplinary matters and broad communication;
For companies that have dealt with the established, well-run machines that are the NUM, Solidarity and Uasa for the past 30 years, there is a new organisation to engage; it’s called Amcu;
For a chief executive officer who has interacted and worked with the NUM, Sol- idarity and Uasa, well, there is a new union called Amcu;
For all the other stakeholders and partners in the mining industry who have interacted and dealt with the NUM, Solidarity and Uasa, again, Amcu is here.
My argument is that this game-changing event should not have led to the violence we have seen in the industry since early 2012.
We have a great country with a great constitution and evolving democracy which must be underpinned by a strong economy, built around economic sectors such as the mining industry.
Leadership must now prevail. Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu has led a great process of engaging us as industry leaders, including business and labour and the Peace and Stability Framework, signed on February 25 2013. We all missed an opportunity by not effectively communicating this framework to our employees. Hence it did not have the desired effect.
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe arranged a summit on June 14, having consulted with all parties individually beforehand.
A framework document was signed by most of the parties this week. Amcu was given more time to consult with its members before signing, but did not reject the content of the document.
The Chamber of Mines and its members must spend more time engaging all the unions involved in this industry to agree to negotiate centrally for all the sectors. There is a view that some unions have less capacity than others, but I believe that when a union starts representing more than 30 000 members, it must develop an effective administrative machine that services its membership.
Furthermore, the chamber must develop mechanisms to tirelessly communicate with mine employees regarding these changes.
The media debates between the NUM and Amcu must stop for now. NUM president Senzeni Zokwana is a strong, experienced and articulate leader. Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa has built a union, and is articulate and experienced.
I beseech and encourage both of them to have a joint public session to acknowledge that the industry has changed and the need to co-exist is nonnegotiable. They must sit in the same room and negotiate with business, participate together in national structures like the Mining Industry Growth, Development and Employment Task Team and agree that their unions will recruit and organise in a peaceful manner.
Are we going to watch these developments and see more violence in the industry?
Are we going to comment and be negative about each other and vilify each other forever? Are we going to be negative about South Africa and discourage the world from investing in our country?
Is South Africa on a precipice? No! It is time for leadership in our industry to stand up as game changers.
The game change we are experiencing today in the mining industry is acknowledged and accepted — but it should not be destructive and take lives.
Teke is vice-president of the Chamber of Mines. He writes in his personal capacity