BusinessLive reports that ahead of talks with mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe and other unions, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has drawn a clear line in opposing the piecemeal return to work at some mines and plants with reduced workforces.  

Amcu joined calls by the National Union of Mineworkers for mines to remain closed during SA’s national Covid-19 lockdown.  Mantashe has allowed limited mining and processing to continue, particularly at opencast mines, furnaces and refineries.  Labour-intensive underground mines have shut, but work has continued at pits where safe distances between miners can be kept and the health of employees more closely monitored among workforces no bigger than half the normal contingents.  On Wednesday, Mantashe is due to meet the Minerals Council SA, whose members represent 90% of SA’s mineral production.  “It is becoming clear that the DMRE is under severe pressure from the Minerals Council to start with a premature ramp-up of operations under the guise of the essential services exemption,” Mathunjwa said.  He went on to state:  “We are equally concerned about the job security of workers and the state of the South African economy at large.  However, these concerns must never be addressed at the expense of the health and safety of workers.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Allan Seccombe at BusinessLive

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