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Deep-level mineworkers need education to flourish

4th April 2014

By: Pimani Baloyi

Creamer Media Writer

  

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Deep-level mining companies have to consider underground mineworkers’ desire to advance their careers and flourish in the industry, but should recognise that modern South African mineworkers’ life expectations for themselves and their families are not always realistic, says advisory firm Deloitte Consulting senior manager Rhyno Jacobs.

“Today mining companies prefer to employ better educated people to whom they can communicate key performance indicator targets and strategic objectives for specific working areas underground. For instance, some of our clients require a matric certificate as a minimum requirement for employment.

He adds, however, that mineworkers increasingly expect to have decent homes as well as education and future employment opportunities for their children – all in a safe and sustainable social environment.

Jacobs tells Mining Weekly that employee- employer relations have, for some time, been moving away from the command-control type of environment, which involves the line supervisor instructing the employee to complete a task without any questions asked.

Moreover, in the current battle for member- ship, trade unions also tend to make unattain- able promises to their members, explains Jacobs, citing by way of example, trade union the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union’s (AMCU’s) demand for a minimum entry-level monthly salary of R12 500, which he says is on par with a three-year university graduate’s gross monthly starting salary.

“But it should be remembered that AMCU’s main priority is to obtain the required member- ship numbers to gain control of mining opera- tions. This is not too difficult to achieve with an uneducated, easily manipulated workforce. This includes individuals who are fatigued by the widespread abuse and exploitation of garnishee orders, which means that mineworkers receive minimal take-home pay as a result.

“The lack of motivation among mineworkers to attend work is clear. This is evident in the increas- ing abuse of sick leave, which the mining industry has been experiencing over the last decade,” explains Jacobs.

He says the solution should be to design a business model that will make future expansions in deep-level mining more dependent on automation and mechanisation.

He adds that the model should involve developing suitable remuneration and operating models for employees, while retaining the jobs of those already working at existing conventional mining operations.

“The solution should include a stable union-miner-government cooperation model – one that will not allow the current scenario of ongoing strikes and labour unrest.

“Hence, the solution should move the deep- level mining industry into a more mechanised, automated mining environment,” details Jacobs.

Moreover, the model should prioritise educating and upskilling workers to ensure that they gain the technical skills to operate, manage and maintain the machinery that will be used in mechanised mining.

“Over time, the entire South African deep-level mining sector will be transformed into a technically skilled labour force within a stable environment with applicable remuneration and incentive models.

The end result will be the ability to exploit even deeper ore deposits in a safe and profitable manner, which will ultimately uncover deposits that would otherwise never have been mined,” concludes Jacobs.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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