JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) has called on the State to subsidise mining companies, should it “believe in the poverty they are pleading”.

“We call for intervention because [government] is our servant; they are not the bosses and maybe they need to be reminded of that. We are paying this government with our taxes. When we appeal to them, we are doing so in accordance with the Constitution, and they must run,” AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa said at a media briefing on Friday.

He added that the State should repossess mines that were not profitable and, either award those mining licences to other companies, or run the mines itself.

Mathunjwa’s comments were made in the midst of a turbulent gold wage negotiation season, which had already seen labour and industry referring collective bargaining processes to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).

Trade unions, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Uasa and Solidarity, last week, declared a dispute during the gold sector’s centralised wage negotiations at the Chamber of Mines (CoM), saying that a process of facilitation should take place to give negotiations a boost.

This was followed on Monday by an unprecedented dispute declaration by the South African gold producers represented by the CoM, which said the industry was unable to yield to AMCU’s demands, which had not shifted since the start of the wage talks.

AMCU is demanding a minimum entry-level wage of R11 500 for surface workers and R12 500 for underground workers, excluding accommodation, bonuses and other benefits.

“We cannot afford to cut back on the slave salaries that the mineworkers continue to earn in this country. [An increase in] salaries is the only foundation to achieving peace and stability in the mining sector,” Mathunjwa said on Friday.

He added that, despite recent reports that the union was unwilling to engage in a mediation process with the CoM at the CCMA, it was prepared to participate if the process was held separately to that of the mediation process between the CoM and the other trade unions.

The CCMA, on Thursday, confirmed that it would engage with AMCU and consolidate the dispute the gold producers had declared with AMCU into a single matter.

Mathunjwa, however, commented that, in the union’s experience, any recommendation given by the commission would not be objective.

“Nothing much can be expected from the CCMA proceedings. In our experience with the CCMA during previous employer negotiations, senior commissioners were taking sides,” he noted.

Mathunjwa reiterated that AMCU was a nonviolent, apolitical trade union and condemned any statement that had the effect of instigating violence and instability.

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