Strikes threaten coal sector

17th March 2017

By: Marleny Arnoldi

Deputy Editor Online

     

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If an agreement cannot be reached on the future structure and form of wage negotiations in the coal sector, unions have threatened to strike, says Solidarity mining industry deputy general secretary Connie Prinsloo.

“It is unfortunate that it has got to the stage of a formal dispute. We hope that the coal employers will honour the agreement we had to discuss matters further. If we don’t strike, having failed to reach an amicable solution, then it is a sign of weakness. The employers are, therefore, forcing us to strike,” he tells Mining Weekly.

Solidarity believes in a sustainable mining industry, he says, and it will, therefore, never negotiate or strike its members out of jobs. “There are economic realities that we are deeply aware of, and any strike, dispute or labour unrest will not be conducive to enhancing investors’ confidence in our mining industry.”

Chamber of Mines (CoM) employment relations head Motsammai Motlhamme also says a strike would be detrimental for all parties. “The companies would lose production and employees would lose out on salaries. The CoM will seek constructive engagement with the unions to find an amicable solution to reach mutually agreeable outcomes.”

In January, Solidarity accused the CoM of negotiating in bad faith and having gone against its stated mandate, which the CoM had confirmed to all unions on January 20, when it agreed that centralised negotiations would still be held. The chamber also reiterated its wish that the negotiations be subject to a strict protocol to ensure an efficient and speedy process, to which all unions present agreed.

Solidarity took issue with the CoM when it subsequently reversed its stance and notified the unions on January 31 that negotiations at centralised level would no longer take place, Prinsloo said in a statement.

After informing the unions in writing during November 2016 that centralised bargaining would no longer take place, the chamber held discussions with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and the United Association of South Africa (Uasa) on two occasions – January 20 and 31 – to try to reach an agreement regarding the future of levels of collective bargaining.

This followed coal companies Anglo American Coal, Msobo Coal, Delmas Coal, Exxaro Coal Mpumalanga, Kangra Coal, Koornfontein Mines and Glencore indicating in 2016 that they intended to negotiate wages, and terms and conditions of employment on a decentralised basis with effect from this year.

The unions declared a dispute after failing to come to an agreement on January 31, but Motlhamme maintains that the chamber remains open to further engagements with the unions on the matter.

According to Solidarity, the ideal situation would be a revised centralised structure where individual employers can make individual offers regarding wage increases.

“We believe that the CoM gets [its] mandate from the coal employers and that [it] would prefer centralised collective bargaining, otherwise the chamber’s labour relations role becomes obsolete,” says Prinsloo.

Centralised and collective bargaining methods provide unions and workers with a total overview of the dynamics and trends in a specific industry while ensuring that conditions of employment are standardised across all companies in the coal sector.

“It is time saving, cost efficient and convenient to focus all time, energy and resources on one centralised forum, rather than negotiate at various workplaces simultaneously. It is also supposed to bring unity between unions and employers and enable us to address industry challenges collectively and find solutions together,” explains Prinsloo.

Seven coal companies in South Africa, with a combined workforce of about 17 000, employ centralised collective bargaining during wage negotiations, but the chamber has a total of 21 coal member companies, 14 of which do not participate in centralised wage negotiations. The South African coal sector collectively employs about 70 000 workers.

When the process of central collective bargaining started several years ago, the idea was that it would produce generally similar settlements so that employees in the same categories would have fairly similar terms and conditions of employment across the industry.

Over time, however, the coal wage agreements have increasingly reflected different settlement levels between coal companies.

Business circumstances and financial positions differ between coal companies and this is demonstrated by wage agreements and substantive employment conditions in place across South Africa’s coal sector. “This clearly demonstrates the divergent position of the various employers,” Motlhamme asserts.

He says the nature of the centralised process has resulted in companies that have made “fairly good offers” having to endure strike action because of the collective nature of the process.

Further, Motlhamme adds that the parties are not accommodating each other quickly enough. “Strikes come and go, but the need to maintain sound and good relationships is always paramount.”

Solidarity claims that its biggest concern is about the future relationship between employers and unions. “We are in a post- Marikana phase, where labour relations are more stable, but this dispute can trigger a new phase of poor labour relations and distrust,” Prinsloo warns.

The NUM and Uasa had not commented on the situation at the time of publication.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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