The days of central collective bargaining in the gold sector are numbered – Solidarity

Trade union Solidarity today warned that the latest happenings in this year’s wage negotiations in the gold industry signal the end of collective bargaining in this industry. This comes after the Chamber of Mines today, during the first dispute round taking place at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), presented the same wage offer which had led to the dispute with Solidarity.

Negotiations actually took a controversial turn when the Chamber last month declared a dispute with Solidarity after the trade union had, accepted the Chamber’s final wage offer of, among others, a 6% wage increase. The Chamber, however, withdrew this offer as none of the other trade unions had accepted it. Meanwhile, the Chamber today again made its final offer for skilled workers to trade unions. Once again, Solidarity accepted the offer as it is exactly the same as the previous one already accepted by the trade union.

Solidarity General Secretary Gideon du Plessis believes the Chamber has created huge confusion among trade unions and employers during the dispute process. “Earlier, after two months of intense wage negotiations and after other trade unions had declared a dispute with the Chamber, the Chamber reverted to its opening offer. That means the negotiations of the past two months have initially been nullified during the dispute process,” Du Plessis explained.

Meanwhile, mining companies are preparing for a possible strike by, among other things, training temporary workers to perform essential services during a strike. “The possibility of a strike could have been avoided if the Chamber had followed a better negotiation strategy from the outset. However, it is possible that the mining companies are actually encouraging an unprotected strike in order to dismiss workers that they otherwise would have had to retrench,” Du Plessis said.

Issued by Gideon du Plessis, Solidarity General Secretary, 15 September 2015