Cape Town — Mining unions are threatening a full-blown strike at the Sibanye-Stillwater Mine after 213 workers were dismissed for staging an illegal sit-in.
The mine closed on Monday after employees were upset over not receiving payments as part of the company’s employment payment scheme. The protest started with more than 200 workers staying underground in an illegal sit-in, which was over by Wednesday.
Following the sit-in, 213 workers were dismissed and now mining unions, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) are demanding that the miners be reinstated, SABC News reported.
“We met with AMCU with the aim of addressing workers jointly and it is the feeling of the trade unions that we should take the employer head-on. It’s the same company that we took a march against in Carletonville around May over the issue of retrenchments.” regional secretary in Rustenburg NUM, Geoffrey Moatshe, said.
“Now if you deal with an arrogant company like Sibanye which is a law into itself, it’s only fair that workers should unite and put aside union affiliations.” he added.
Mining unions are threatening a joint full-blown strike at Sibanye-Stillwater after the dismissal of 213 workers for staging an underground sit in last week over an employee share ownership scheme. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the National… pic.twitter.com/8J5LwSv4wy
— newsnote (@newsnote_rsa) June 10, 2024
According to EWN, the ACMU also intended to threaten strike action should the mine and workers fail to reach an agreement and AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa said the union would hand over a letter of dispute on Monday.
“We will finish this matter quickly. We will send a letter declaring a dispute of mutual interest, emanating from wage agreements, because at this stage, we do not see eye to eye.” he said.
Mathunjwa said if the talks fell flat, the union and members would follow the due process and the AMCU called on the Sibanye-Stillwater workers to remain calm as it worked to resolve the impasse.
“Let’s not fight amongst ourselves. This thing is small. We will not go on strike for a long time, not even three or five months.”
AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa and NUM president addressed thousands of workers who had gathered in Kroondal over their share scheme bonus payments. The strike has led to more than 200 workers being fired by Sibanye Stillwater for an underground protest on Monday. @City_Press pic.twitter.com/iPJn5hbDRR
— Teboho Letsie (@Letsie5Letsie) June 9, 2024
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
