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Confusion deepened at JSE-listed Impala Platinum’s (Implats) Rustenburg operations on Tuesday as the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) alleged workers had embarked on an unprotected strike, a claim swiftly rejected by both the company and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).Implats and Amcu have denied the allegations, saying there is no strike. “There is no strike. Amcu is not on strike,” said Amcu general secretary Jeff Mphahlele. Implats spokesperson Johan Theron said: “There is no strike notice or list of demands at Impala Rustenburg. We are monitoring nonattendance from cont[r]act workers at two shafts and isolated reports of intimidation which we have prioritised through increased security presence and engagement with representatives [of] union structures to advance the safety and security of all workers and contractor employees.” The NUM said it “strongly condemns” what it described as targeted attacks, intimidation and harassment of its members at Implats’ south shaft in Rustenburg. The Cosatu affiliate said its members were not part of the “unprotected strike that commenced on May 31”, in which its members had been “violently prevented from reporting for duty by alleged members of a rival union”. “Furthermore, our members are being subjected to unlawful ultimatums, including being banned from wearing NUM regalia on mine premises. At the No 6 shaft, one of our members was assaulted by alleged rival union members and ordered to strip off their NUM regalia. A criminal case has been officially opened with the police,” NUM Rustenburg regional deputy secretary William Shiko said. “NUM expresses deep disappointment and surprise at Impala Platinum management’s decision to issue the union with legal notices regarding an unprotected strike we have no involvement in. It is unacceptable that our members are being penalised while they are actively being blocked and intimidated from going to work,” Shiko said. This comes nearly three weeks after the NUM ended a protected 20-day strike over recognition rights at Triple M Mining, a contract mining services provider operating at Implats Rustenburg operations. The striking NUM members had accused the contractor of hindering its recognition despite exceeding the required 40% threshold required for formal recognition in the workplace. Implats is one of the world’s foremost producers of platinum and associated platinum group metals (PGMs). The NUM accused the two companies of frustrating a membership verification process that began in May last year and showed in February that the NUM had exceeded the 40% threshold required for formal recognition. Shiko had also accused the management of Implats and Triple M Mining of trying to assist Amcu to continue “being the majority union”, through a closed-shop agreement. A closed shop agreement is a collective agreement between an employer and a majority trade union, stipulating that all employees must be members of that specific union as a condition of employment. The proposed settlement agreement facilitated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) ― which effectively ended the strike ― stated that the employer will grant the trade union section 13 rights of the Labour Relations Act effective May 1. The section governs the deduction of trade union subscriptions from employees’ wages and the remittance of these amounts to representative trade unions. The proposed settlement by CCMA senior commissioner Mduduzi Khumalo also stated that the employer will temporarily grant section 14 rights under the act to the shop steward committee during the verification exercise. Section 14 of the act grants shop stewards special rights and functions to represent union members in the workplace while balancing their duties with employer obligations, while section 12 grants representative trade unions the right to access the workplace to communicate with members, recruit and hold meetings, subject to reasonable conditions.
