[miningmx.com] – SOUTH Africa’s gold industry has been careful not to commit itself to locking-out employees from their places of work. In the words of Graham Briggs, CEO of Harmony Gold, it would be “a drastic step’. But it’s not entirely unprecedented, either.
In fact, Briggs used something similar to great effect himself only last year when he served a Section 189 restructuring notice to nearly 6,000 workers at Kusasalethu, the west Rand gold mine that was subject to miner violence and disruption.
Some 1,700 workers aligned with the Association of Mineworker & Construction (AMCU) had staged a sit-in at Kusasalethu; firearms had been brought into the mine premises. The way Briggs described it, he wanted to draw “a line in the sand’.
That was on January 7. By February 14, with mine violence quelled and workers ready to sign new employment agreements, Harmony announced it would take steps to reopen the mine. There was disruption to output at Kusasalethu – affecting 9% of Harmony’s total production for the quarter – but the company posted a robust set of results nonetheless.
Briggs’ industry colleague, Neal Froneman, also locked out workers at East Modder last year when he was CEO of Gold One International, before taking the reins at Sibanye Gold. He subsequently brought a legal action against the union that had caused damage to property and intimidated workers. Again, the violence was short-lived.
The scale of the activity the industry may launch following this year’s failed wage talks – and the imminence of strike action from September 3 – is a far more important development, and more far-reaching in implication, however, as some 140,000 workers across a number of South African mines will be affected by it. And it won’t suddenly bring about a wage settlement, as Briggs has stated.
It will, though, have the effect of focusing union minds on the negotiation process, and the interests of its members, rather than the political tic-tac-toe that seems to have held back wage talks currently.
There is still a security risk. Briggs says about 45% of workers live in hostels. This is enough to cause discontent if they are sitting around, unable to work and, equally as important, unable to earn a living. Perhaps, however, upward pressure from members on union leaders will hasten a proper negotiation process.
It’s also possible the South African government will intervene as the spirit of the framework agreement, brokered by deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, is being tested by the failure of unions to make a realistic counter offer to the two improvements the Chamber of Mines has put on the table since the negotiation process began.
For the South African gold industry, this is a critical test; another line in the sand is about to be drawn.
For workers, the prospects are dim.
Going on strike hurts workers more than anyone else as it takes about three years for workers to get back to their former economic status after a prolonged strike activity, according to one gold mining CEO.
