Fin24 reports that according to Triple M Mining CEO Sipho Xipu, the company cannot negotiate wages with the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) because the union has not passed the threshold for recognition at the Impala Platinum (Implats) contractor.
Numsa locked horns with three companies contracting services to Implats, namely Triple M Mining, Reagetswe Mining and Newrak, last week. The union claimed these contractor companies were paying their workers as little as R5,000 per month for work which Implats workers earned R17,000 a month. It demanded that the contractors make their wages consistent with those of Implats' permanent employees. The three contractors released a joint statement on Thursday, calling Numsa's plan to strike at their operations "regrettable". Xipu said on Friday that the contractor company had a closed shop agreement with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and that Numsa was not a recognised union at Triple M Mining. "We have a three-year agreement in place with our majority union, Amcu, and all our employees within the bargaining unit are remunerated according to this valid collective agreement," Xipu stated. He added that a union membership verification process would begin on Friday, as ordered by the CCMA. However, as things stood, Numsa did not enjoy the status of recognition at Triple M Mining, and the contractor's agreement with Amcu protected negotiations from "proliferation". Last Tuesday, Reagetswe Mining received an interim interdict from the Labour Court preventing a strike at its operations and Newrak is expected to pursue an interdict as well.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24
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