Peace deal offers new dawn for SA mining - by Allan Seccombe – MINING industry stakeholders on Wednesday committed themselves to an agreement that aims to bring stability to South Africa’s mines and restore investor confidence in the badly battered sector. Amid optimism over the accord, the refusal by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) to sign up on Wednesday cast a shadow over the process, even as it was expected and hoped that Amcu would come on board once it had received a mandate from its members. The agreement, which has as one of its stated aims the restoration of confidence in mining after the battering it took last year, is an acknowledgement by mining companies, unions and the government that something has gone badly wrong and needs fixing. The platinum and gold mines were hardest hit by wildcat strikes last year as Amcu rose to a dominant position on many mines. More than 50 people were killed in violence that accompanied the industrial unrest and companies lost billions of rand in revenue, shaking investor confidence. Amcu declined to sign the agreement on Wednesday despite playing an active role in drawing it up. Some participants accused it of acting in bad faith by imposing conditions at the last minute that could not be met. One delegate said Amcu had declared it would not be "bullied" into signing the agreement. Among its conditions were that South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande withdraw comments that Amcu was a "vigilante organisation" and that AngloGold Ashanti reinstate dismissed workers. In addition, Amcu demanded that Glencore Xstrata reinstate 1,000 dismissed workers and that it be given organisational rights where it is the majority union. Efforts by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to offer solutions to the conditions are reported to have been fruitless and Amcu remains outside the process for now with no indication of when it will sign the 11-page document. Amcu officials were not available for comment. Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said she was confident Amcu would sign up. Mr Motlanthe said the agreement was unconditional and Amcu had raised no objections to the clauses in the document but that it had said it needed a mandate from its members to sign it. "We are expecting Amcu to revert to us as soon as yesterday," he said. "That’s the timeline." Ahead of closed-door talks that preceded the signing, some delegates were already preparing for Amcu to be difficult. "Always expect a surprise in these kinds of events," said one senior mining figure. "In this case I think it’s going to be Amcu." The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which has been displaced as the biggest union on the platinum mines and three key gold mines, was not surprised by the stance taken by Amcu. "I am happy that all and sundry can see what type of animal we are dealing with," NUM general secretary Frans Baleni said. Pressed by reporters at a media briefing on the conditions that Amcu had presented, Mr Motlanthe, who has been tasked with restoring peace and stability to the mining sector by President Jacob Zuma, said the union would not delay the process. "This is a framework. If we had to deal with statements made by whoever, wherever, we would end up with a tome that would be unworkable. We want a working document that can address the core problems in the industry and to remove irritants ." The agreement has identified a number of core stumbling blocks and sources of friction in the mining sector and lays out proposals on how to address them. Participants will meet once a quarter to give feedback on progress and difficulties in meeting their commitments. The two critical aspects that have been singled out are, firstly, the restoration of the rule of law and order on the mines and the way labour interacts with employers. The second is labour relations and addressing key issues that have soured the interaction between companies and workers. These included living and working conditions, migrant labour and the debt burden most employees have, in particular garnishee orders that decimate take-home pay. There are no sanctions or mechanisms in the document to compel signatories to comply with the agreement. "Investors are not interested in this document," Mr Motlanthe said. "They are interested in a stable mining industry that operates within the framework of the law." Bridgette Radebe, president of the South African Mining Development Association, which represents junior mining companies, said Amcu had played a key role in drawing up the final document, with delegates spending a long time last Friday incorporating its suggestions. Amcu’s actions should also be seen in the context of gold sector wage negotiations starting next week, said Gideon du Plessis, general secretary of trade union Solidarity. "I think part of what we saw today is about Amcu positioning itself ahead of the talks. "It looks like they’re sending a message that they won’t be forced into anything." There is no commitment from Amcu yet that it will join in centralised gold wage talks. Amcu is the second-biggest union in the gold sector behind the NUM’s 65%, representing 17% of unionised workers. Published with the kind courtesy of bdlive.co.za
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 05:59:23 +0000