Vavi tries to ease tension at strike

C OSATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi dropped everything yesterday to address striking Gold Fields miners who face being fired if they do not return to work tomorrow.

His intervention came a day after miners in Marikana ended a violent six-week strike after reaching a deal with their employer, platinum mining company Lonmin.

During the strike, thousands of workers at other mines filed in to Marikana to join a new union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which is a rival of the larger National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), one of Cosatu’s biggest members.

There were concerns that the agreement in Marikana on Wednesday had set a damaging precedent.

“The normal bargaining processes have been compromised,” said NUM general secretary Frans Baleni.

“It does suggest that unprotected action, an element of anarchy, can be easily rewarded. People can do certain wrong things with impunity, and that means that it can roll over to other operations.”

Yesterday, in a sign of concern about the NUM losing supporters to AMCU, Vavi rushed out of Cosatu’s national congress to address the striking miners at the KDC West mine in Carltonville.

The strikers are demanding a monthly salary of R12 500, that they be refunded for burial scheme money deducted from their August salaries – apparently without their consent – and that the NUM leadership in the mine step down.

About 15 000 workers have been on an unprotected strike for almost two weeks.

Speaking to the miners at the Masizakhele Stadium, Vavi said that Gold Fields had been granted an interdict because the strike was unprotected. He said he would sit in on a meeting between NUM leaders to decide how to deal with the miners’ grievances, adding that salaries would top the list.

NUM president Senzeni Zokwana said that the union would meet the miners today to deal with the strike.

Gold Fields spokesman Sven Lunsche said last night that the mine management was in a meeting with the NUM.

He said two or three warnings had been issued to the strikers. “Once we realise that there is no chance of getting the workers back to work, using the court interdict will be an option we would consider,” he said.

The strikers said they were not threatened by the interdict.

“If they fire us the mine will have to close down,” said one miner.

“They need experienced people in the mine. They can’t hire scab labour. We will attack them.”