A critical ruling deciding whether a wage agreement by three minority unions can be extended to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) is expected on Wednesday.
Amcu called its wage strike on November 21 2018 at Sibanye’s three large gold mines, rejecting an agreement signed with three other unions and demanding, among other items, a R1,000 a month pay increase against the R700 a month for two years and R825 a month in the third year of the wage deal.
Amcu said on Tuesday it had received a “resounding mandate” from its members to accept a proposed settlement from the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration that Sibanye pay R5,700 to its striking members, as well as a R5,000 salary advance among other issues.
It said it was hopeful that this proposal would bring an end to the strike, but that Sibanye had not accepted the proposal.
Sibanye and the National Union of Mineworkers, Solidarity and Uasa, through the Minerals Council of SA amended their agreement to extend the wage deal to Amcu members.
While the three unions did not represent the majority of workers at the time of the wage deal, Sibanye has argued there has been a shift of employees to those three unions from Amcu and non-unionised employees pushing them into the majority position, something Amcu outright rejects.
There has been fierce contestation in court about union representation at the gold mines and whether the three unions have gained membership during the protracted strike, leaving them in the majority position and enabling the wage deal to be imposed on Amcu members.
A court-ordered verification process to establish membership levels has yet to be concluded.
Sibanye has had setbacks in court around the issue of representation and imposing the wage deal on Amcu, with a December labour court ruling casting doubt on the company’s union membership numbers and preventing Sibanye from interdicting the strike.
Amcu has approached the labour court to prevent a second attempt to extend the wage deal to its members.
A court ruling in Sibanye’s favour would effectively leave the strike unprotected and potentially end the action.
This would be a major setback for Amcu and its members who have lost four months of wages and would take years to recoup their lost wages in the no-work no-pay strike.
However, if the court finds in Amcu’s favour there is no obvious way for the strike to be ended, with both the union and Sibanye deeply entrenched in their respective positions.
Sibanye cannot, according to its agreement signed with the other three unions, reach a deal with Amcu on a higher wage deal than the one it settled in early November.
Sibanye is also coming up to wage negotiations at its platinum mines and cannot afford to be seen as a company that bends to the will of Amcu, which is a powerful union at those mines.
Amcu’s leadership by the same token cannot be seen as caving in or softening its demands by the 14,000 members out on strike and undergoing severe privations after four months without wages or any financial support to push for this wage demand.
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