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Mining Weekly reports that three contractor companies at Impala Platinum’s mines in Rustenburg, North West, have expressed their views on some of the claims made by National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), which is currently carrying out strike action at the mines.
The three contractors, Newrak Mining, Triple M Mining and Reagetswe Mining, said the strike action was “regrettable” and followed several other unprotected strikes called by the union in the past year, including a two-month strike in mid-2021. Losses from the current strike have amounted to R30-million, and it has put job security at risk, the companies warned. In response to Numsa’s demands for union recognition, the contractors explained that there were different circumstances applying at each company. While the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) was the majority union at Reagetswe and Triple M, representing between 16% and 26% of their employees, Numsa was the largest union at Newrak and was recognised by the company. At Triple M, Numsa was reportedly given some organising rights to enable it to improve its representation, however, after 14 months, the union was unable to reach that goal. Despite Numsa being the largest union at Newrak, the company said it could not offer the union members access rights on Impala’s property. Instead, Numsa was offered office facilities outside the Impala property, but the union rejected the offer. The contractors advised further that Reagetswe earlier this week won an interdict against the latest strike, declaring it unprotected and directing employees to return to work. The other two companies will apparently also apply for interdicts. Addressing Numsa’s claims about “exploitative” wages and a lack of benefits, particularly that some employees only earned R5,000 a month, the companies clarified that no employee earned near that low amount for a full month’s work.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly
- Read too, Contractors warn Numsa they cannot long support “unprotected’ strike at Implats mines, at Miningmx
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page