[miningmx.com] — THE Associated Mineworkers and Construction Union has already signed up about 12,000 members at the Rustenburg operations of Impala Platinum (Implats), following an intense recruitment campaign described by observers as a major shift in labour relations in the mining industry.
The rapid growth in this trade union’s membership means that the National Union of Mineworkers (Num), one of the five heavyweight unions in Cosatu, could soon lose its majority representation at Implats, the world’s second-largest platinum producer.
“We’ve already handed stop orders for about 10,000 new Amcu members to the management of Implats in Rustenburg and will give them a further 2,000 on Friday,’ Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa told Sake24 on Tuesday.
The Rustenburg mines, which only started to operate at full capacity in the past few weeks, following the disruptive strike in February and March, have again come to a halt, because three Amcu members have been arrested as a result of a shooting incident last week.
“I don’t think we will be back in production this week again,’ Implats human resources head Johan Theron said.
Amcu has recruited about 40% of the Implats-Rustenburg workforce of 30,000 within a period of two months.
About one-third of the workforce usually does not belong to a trade union, and the 12,000 members signed up by Amcu were probably drawn out of the ranks of NUM.
NUM, which formerly had about 20,000 members, now presumably has less than 11,000 members left.
The stop orders must now be verified, after which NUM gets three months in which to try to attract the members back before it loses its formal recognition as the majority trade union.
During this period there is very little likelihood of labour peace at Implats in Rustenburg.
“We have already held two meetings with the management of Implats to discuss an organisational agreement. The next meeting is on Friday,’ Mathunjwa said.
According to him, Amcu has advised the workers to return to work. On Monday he also sent a letter to the management of Implats requesting assistance to end the unprotected strike.
“Every time we have done this, Implats said they first want to talk to Num about it, and that’s the last we heard about it,’ he said.
However, Theron pointed out that Num can obtain an interdict against Implats if the company enters into negotiations with Amcu while Num is still officially the majority trade union.
– Sake24
