The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), one of the largest affiliates of labour federation Cosatu, wants mothballed mines to be reopened to boost employment.
The union will engage the department of mineral resources & energy to conduct a full audit of mines under care and maintenance in achieving its goal, it says.
Figures released a week ago show unemployment rising from 34.9% in the third quarter to 35.3% during the fourth quarter of 2021.
The mining industry, which has enjoyed bumper profits due to a global surge in commodity prices, created 25,000 jobs during the period under review. The sector contributes about 9% to GDP, with about 450,000 people directly employed by the industry.
“We want government to tell mining bosses to reopen those mines or sell them to create jobs. Some of these mines are mothballed, or placed under care and maintenance, while there is still good ore that can be mined,” newly elected NUM general secretary William Mabapa said.
“Getting those mines running again could resolve the unemployment crisis ... and help improve our membership, Mabapa said.
More than 50 mines in the Free State, North West, and Limpopo are under care and maintenance. They have the potential of creating about 50,000 jobs, he said.
Recruitment strategy
At the just-concluded NUM elective conference Daniel Balepile was elected president, Phillip Vilakazi was re-elected deputy president while Mpho Phakedi was elected deputy general secretary. Helen Diatile was elected treasurer-general.
“The one issue that we need to work hard on is to create a strategy for recruitment,” said Mabapa. The union organises in the mining, energy, construction and metals sectors.
“We plan to have 30,000 members in the metals sector in the coming three years. That would take our membership to 200,000. Probably in six to nine years we could see NUM going back to its membership of 300,000 that we used to have in 2012,” he said.
The NUM lost many members to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) during the wildcat strike in Marikana, where heavily armed police gunned down 34 protesting Lonmin platinum mineworkers who were demanding better wages and living conditions. Another 10 people, including security guards, were killed in the preceding week.
“We started working with Amcu in 2015 when I was deployed in the platinum sector. We worked together during the wage negotiations. The NUM’s relationship with other unions in the sector, as ... with Amcu, is very good,” Mabapa said.
Above inflation
The NUM, Amcu, Solidarity and United Association of SA (Uasa), tabled their wage demands at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations as a “coalition” last year, before Solidarity and Uasa recently accepted the company’s revised wage offer. It resulted in surface and underground workers receiving a R700 pay rise and a R100 increase in the living-out allowance each year for three years, and a 5% pay increase for artisans, miners and officials over the course of the multiyear agreement.
The NUM and Amcu, with a combined membership of about 25,000 at Sibanye’s gold operations, have stuck to their demands for an increase of R1,000 a month for the lowest-paid employees, and 6% for miners, artisans and officials — above the headline inflation rate of 5.8% that the Reserve Bank has forecast for 2022.
They are also demanding a R100 increase in the living-out allowance, which takes their pay demand to R1,100 each year for three years.
The two unions embarked on a protracted wage strike on March 9 and have been locked out of the workplace since March 10. The striking workers have lost about R440m in basic wages to date.
They will try meeting the miner on Monday or Tuesday to settle the dispute and end the strike, Mabapa said.
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