JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) had no objection to taking part in the gold sector wage talks under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), AMCU national secretary Jimmy Gama said on Thursday.

Gama, who said AMCU would be holding a media briefing in Johannesburg at 10:00 on Friday, denied that the organisation would be boycotting the CCMA talks following reports that it had staged a walkout on the first day of the statutorily mediated negotiations.

"I know of no walkout," Gama told Mining Weekly Online, adding that AMCU was not against the CCMA talks and would be taking part in them.

The gold producers, who are advised by the Chamber of Mines, last week took the unprecedented step of declaring a dispute with AMCU, which followed the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and the United Association of South Africa (Uasa) declaring a dispute with the gold producers over their 5% wage offer.

On Thursday, some early reports suggested that AMCU had disrupted the first day of the CCMA mediation by first locking themselves in their caucus room and then leaving the premises.

But the chamber later put out a media release stating that NUM, Solidarity and Uasa had been advised that the CCMA would engage with AMCU and consolidate the dispute that the gold producers had declared with AMCU into a single matter.

CCMA national senior commissioner Afzul Soobedaar, who met the gold producers AngloGold Ashanti, Evander Gold Mine, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold, Rand Uranium, Sibanye Gold and Village Main Reef on Thursday, will lead the mediation on August 6,13 and 21, together with independent mediator Peter Harris.

Gama said AMCU would respond fully to the question of CCMA participation at the media briefing.

AMCU on Thursday extended a written invitation to Mining Weekly Online to attend the briefing, which would deal with all aspects of the gold wage negotiations.

Uasa spokesperson Andre Venter said that the parties had requested the CCMA to make an effort to involve AMCU in the negotiations scheduled for August 6 on a voluntary basis and, should AMCU decline, that the process should continue without AMCU.

Mining Weekly Online learnt at the time of going to press that certain other affected parties were preparing to issue a media release in which they would state that AMCU should be denied a certificate to embark on a legally protected strike should it fail to attend the CCMA mediation talks on August 6, 13 and 21.

The chamber said in a media release that the gold wage bargaining would proceed under the CCMA, as provided for by the Labour Relations Act.

The NUM, with majority representation, is demanding increases of up to 60%; Uasa increases of up to 18%; Solidarity 10%; and AMCU up to 150%.