WELKOM (miningweekly.com) – Workers Day is a time when South African workers come together in solidarity with workers worldwide to celebrate the gains made, while also calling for more improvements to the livelihoods and working conditions of labourers around the world, said Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) national treasurer Jimmy Gama.

He was speaking to Mining Weekly Online on the sidelines of the union’s May Day celebration rally at the Griffons Rugby Stadium, in Welkom, in the Free State, on Monday.

Workers Day, or Labour Day as it is called in many countries, is a yearly public holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. It has its origins in the labour union movement of the 1880s, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation and eight hours for rest.

Gama, outlining the union’s plan of action for the year, said AMCU would be “intensifying our struggle” for the betterment of the working conditions of mineworkers in South Africa by seeking to ensure that mines pay their workers a “living wage”.

“We do not accept the National Minimum Wage of R20 an hour or R3 500 a month, that has been proposed by government. This is a slave wage and [an] insult to workers,” he stated.

Gama commented that AMCU aimed to ensure that, within the next five years, workers across all sectors earned a salary that enabled them to support their families and sustain themselves as “dignified human beings” living in South Africa.

With regards to AMCU’s position on newly launched trade union federation, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), which former Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi helped to establish following his ousting as leader of Cosatu, Gama noted that AMCU was already affiliated to the National Council of Trade Unions (NCTU).

However, he revealed to Mining Weekly Online that, at the labour federation level, there had already been discussions between the leaderships of Saftu and NCTU, respectively, but not between Saftu and AMCU directly.

“These talks are still ongoing but it is too early to say what will emerge from these discussions. AMCU has no problem in principle with the emergence of the new trade union federation, as we believe that it will help to enhance the workers struggle in South Africa in general.”

Concerning the location of the rally, which was not in AMCU’s stronghold of the platinum belt region of South Africa (namely the North West and Limpopo), where the union is in the majority in the platinum sector, Gama explained that this was to showcase its growing strength in the gold sector.

“We have gained a significant number of members in the Free State and we continue to expand our membership throughout the gold sector.”

With regard to the 2018 gold negotiations – where AMCU is currently a minority union, according to industry data – Gama said he did not expect negotiations to be tense.

“AMCU is flexible when we enter into negotiations with mining houses and I believe that all employers now understand our negotiating style. We were able to avoid strikes and general unrest in the platinum sector in 2016 as management understood what the demands and needs of the workers were and this can easily be achieved in the gold sector in 2018 as well.”

He commented that AMCU was concerned about ratings agency Fitch’s decision to downgrade South Africa's credit rating to subinvestment grade or ‘junk status’ last month following President Jacob Zuma’s decision to reshuffle his Cabinet.

“This ‘junk status’ rating should be worrying for all South Africans regardless of class status because it is likely to herald difficult economic times for the country. Employees are the most concerned as it is likely to result in increased taxes and living expenses,” Gama remarked.

Nonetheless, he said, AMCU would not be drawn on its position regarding calls for Zuma to resign or be recalled by the African National Congress, as it viewed this as a party political matter and not something that a trade union should comment on.