CCMA intervenes to avert strike at gold mines

A planned strike by members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was placed on hold – for now – to see if intervention by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration’s (CCMA) will save the day.

This comes after workers at Sibanye-Stillwater rejected an offer of a R700 increase per year for three years and demanded an increase of R1,000 for the same period.

NUM spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said despite the worker’s ballot vote in favour of the strike, it was on hold.

“We were now in the position to issue a 48-hour notice to embark on a strike. But we will wait.”

Mammburu said a Thursday afternoon late meeting about the way forward halted the strike when the CCMA intervened and requested to meet with the unions and stakeholders on Monday before the NUM made its final decision to strike or not.

He said “79% of NUM members voted in favour of the strike, at Beatrix mines only 18% voted in favour and 31% of the United Association of SA voted against the strike”. Mammburu said the Sibanye Gold operations included the Driefontein, Kloof, Cook and Beatrix mines.

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Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow minister of employment and labour Dr Michael Cardo said the forthcoming strike at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations would harm the economy at a time of great economic vulnerability, domestically and internationally.

“South Africa can’t afford another round of disruptions to its economy after the devastating effect of Covid and the lockdowns. We are staring into the abyss.”

Cardo said the balloting procedure, in this case, revealed continuous flaws in our industrial relations regime.

“The fact that Amcu’s members voted by a show of hands and not via a secret ballot is deeply problematic.”

Economist at Wits University Lumkile Mondi said a strike would be unfortunate in the light of rising commodity prices and the opportunity for job creation.

“The timing is unfortunate and unions should also account for their contribution in joblessness in an economy that calls upon those in the labour market to contribute in increasing productivity and job creation for an inclusive society,” he said.

Economist Dawie Roodt said he wasn’t surprised the workers wanted to strike.

“It’s about their wages and I understand, the mines were doing exceptionally well currently, so I understand they want to earn more money because the mines were making more money.”

He said workers needed to be careful not to strike.

“We should make South Africa more desirable, it was now the opportunity with the high mineral prices in the mining sector, to attract international investors.”

Roodt added it was now time to get the workers to work together and to create more jobs.

“If they do go on to strike and disrupt the mining operations, it will undermine South Africa. The mining industry was one of the few doing well at this stage, the rest of the economy was doomed,” he added.

Roodt warned workers not to mess up a good opportunity.