Tuesday, 16th March 2004 (3183 views)

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the country's largest union, has started formal proceedings to launch a nationwide strike of its members.

The 300,000-strong union is protesting against job losses caused by the stronger rand and threatens to take strike action if its grievances are not addressed.

The NUM has reportedly notified the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), a state-sponsored labour arbitration organisation, of its intention and has named The Department of Minerals and Energy (DME), the Chamber of Mines and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) as respondents in the case.

Over the past year, De Beers, Durban Roodepoort Deep, BHP Billitons Ingwe Coal and Kumba have all signalled their intention to cut jobs at their local business units and several other companies are believed to be preparing to reduce their work forces or introduce 24-hour shifts arrangements.

The NUM is calling for more action by the government to address declining profitability.

The government, however, insists that it is committed to addressing the problem. Kanyo Gqulu, a spokesman for the DME, said the president, Thabo Mbeki, had been notified of the problems affecting the industry after the first meeting with the union.

The proposed strike may be delayed for some time as Nedlac brings government, business, labour and the community together to discuss ways of resolving the dispute.

 

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