City Press reports that, after four years of trying, the Association of Mining and Construction Union (Amcu) has finally succeeded in getting minority unions derecognised at Lonmin and stripped of their already limited organisational rights.  

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and Uasa all received letters last week from the platinum producer giving them three months’ notice that they will lose their limited rights.  Practically, this means an end to stop orders providing them with members’ union dues as well as losing their full-time officials and the limited access they have enjoyed to the Marikana mining complex to recruit and meet with members.  According to Lonmin, the decision followed a recent escalation of Amcu’s “very insistent” demand that the small unions, which represent about 10% (about 2,500) of the workforce, should lose their perks.  Amcu negotiated a so-called winner-takes-all recognition agreement with Lonmin in 2013, setting a 30% threshold for recognition, which translates into roughly 7,425 members.

• Read this report by Dewald van Rensburg in full at City Press

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