JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) will, on Thursday, announce whether its members will embark on a strike in the gold sector, union president Joseph Mathunjwa said at a media briefing on Wednesday.

This followed after the union’s members at gold miners AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold and Sibanye Gold voted over the weekend to embark on a strike. 

Mathunjwa said the South African labour market had a low wage regime underscored by the exploitation of a majority of workers.

“The structure of the South African economy is profit-driven with structural deficiencies tailored to generate more money for employers with the hope that such benefits will be shared with workers.

“However, evidence supported by the Gini coefficient indicates that South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world with poor redistribution of profits and wealth,” he stated.

Mathunjwa asserted that mining CEOs in South Africa earned on average 420 times that of the South African minimum wage and 355 times that of the mining sector median earnings.

“African workers are worse off, as there has not been much difference in their earnings. The median earnings of African mineworkers have stagnated at R1 330 in 1997, R1 437 in 2001, R1 821 in 2007 to current trends at R4 700 in 2012.

“They have consistently maintained a 25% average of their white counterparts whose apartheid wage structure has perpetuated under the new democratic dispensation. In an economy where wages are the only transformative tool for workers, this reality poses numerous threats to the dream of economic freedom for our members,” he stated.

The gold sector is one of the oldest industries in the South African economy, which has supported and birthed numerous downstream industries.

However, Mathunjwa said that, despite this legacy, the gold sector had the lowest comparative monthly median earnings compared with other commodities. Gold sector median earnings were pegged at just above R4 000 compared with other sectors, such as coal, at R4 900; diamonds, at R6 500; and platinum, at R5 200, as of 2012.

He added that it was incumbent in any “rational thinking” organisation to intensify the struggle for better wages in the gold sector, as compared to other mining commodities.

“We are, therefore, surprised that the National Union of Mineworkers was prepared to sign a gold settlement agreement for R625, while going on strike for a R1 000 settlement in the coal sector that is already better remunerated,” Mathunjwa said.

He stated that this “lack of consistency” by the NUM did not stand up to logical scrutiny, other than to arrive at “speculative reasoning fixated at the myopic bargaining tactics that are centred at colluding against AMCU, while compromising the workers”.

“In the absence of an epistemic rigorous analysis of such choices we are drawn to the divisive strategies that have been employed by the Chamber of Mines (CoM) and our sister unions to frustrate AMCU and its members in a quest to posit AMCU as an irrational, militant organisation.”

Mathunjwa commented that this collusion was shown by the quick settlement of the coal dispute at a higher amount, while gold employers were holding out for a lower settlement.

He said that this was happening despite the gold price enjoying a sustained high value compared with the coal and even the platinum price. “There is, therefore, no economic rationale as to why gold employers would settle for a lower increase than their coal counterparts.”

Moreover, Mathunjwa called on employers in the gold sector to bargain in good faith viewing the negotiations through the prism of the historical legacies that characterise the sector.

He said mineworkers had laid down their lives for employers to enjoy super profits through decades of intensified exploitation, adding that many of the union’s members had died in the mines or retired with chronic illnesses, such as silicosis.

“This sacrifice is done for peanuts, as there are no real benefits derived from this life threatening work.”

Mathunjwa said the union’s demand for a living wage in the gold sector was also informed by the need for a social wage that compensated for the dangers of working in deep-level mines.

“If the CoM was prepared to engage in good faith with coal workers, we implore it to take the gold dispute seriously and return to the negotiating table with improved offers to avoid industrial action,” he added.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, NUM general secretary David Sipunzi told Mining Weekly Online that although the union had not reached agreement with Sibanye over a wage deal settlement it had no immediate plans to engage in strike action yet.

“Our lawyers have written to Sibanye to get them to sign the agreement that AngloGold and Harmony signed with the unions. We love this gold industry but if we have to strike, it will only be as a last option. However, currently there are no plans to go on strike.”

He also refuted claims that the NUM and AMCU had agreed on a joint strike action plan at Sibanye’s operations owing to neither union having the required 50%-plus-one principle required to automatically extend the agreement to all employees regardless of union affiliation.

“We do not have any joint venture with AMCU but we cannot rule out cooperation in future. However, we have not had any discussions to date with AMCU about this issue,” said Sipunzi.