JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Constitutional Court ruling in favour of the gold producers this week brings “final certainty” on the nature of an extended 2013 wage agreement.
The ruling, relating to a June 2014 Labour Court order that upheld an interim order preventing the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) from embarking on protected strike action, was welcomed on Tuesday by the Chamber of Mines, which was acting on behalf of gold producers AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony and Sibanye.
AMCU had planned to down tools at certain operations owned by the three mining companies, in dispute over the wages and other conditions of service that the union was bound to owing to the collective agreement reached by gold producers and other unions for the period July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2015.
At the time the agreement was reached, AMCU represented 17% of employees in the sector. The agreement was extended by AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony and Sibanye to AMCU and its members in terms of Section 23(1)d of the Labour Relations Act.