Amcu
Amcu: Sibanye-Stillwater must take responsibility for Marikana massacre
The union said the living conditions of the mining community of Nkaneng informal settlement in Marikana have not improved.
Amcu is expected to hold a commemoration on Sunday for the miners who died in the Marikana Massacre.
There’s a new normal for South Africa's mines as the key industry slowly resumes operations under loosened anti-coronavirus restrictions.
Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said that the only way to ensure the safety of mineworkers and the industry’s sustainability was through testing all workers.
Amcu filed the court action to demand national safety standards for mines, including sanitisation procedures and minimum level of protective gear, before they go back to work.
Thursday is day two of a virtual Labour Court sitting in which Amcu wants the mining department and minister to be compelled to make binding regulations that are coupled with potential jail time for mine bosses who do not comply.
The union took the department to court to compel Minister Gwede Mantashe to institute binding regulations for employers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The union has approached the court to compel Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe to issue binding regulations.
The union wants government to issue binding regulations to protect miners from the virus as the lockdown moves to level 4 allowing production to return to more than 50%.
The union has expressed concern over the safety of miners following the announcement by government that mining companies can restart production at half of their capacity over the next two weeks.
This time union leaders have to explain several financial irregularities emanating from its 2018 audited financial statements, which were flagged by the registrar as well as the status of its leadership structures.
It’s understood the workers affiliated to NUM and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) have been at loggerheads for the past seven years.
The signing ceremony will take place in Muldersdrift, a town in South Africa’s platinum mining heartlands 30 kms northwest of Johannesburg at 0800 GMT on Wednesday, Amcusaid.
Amcu was briefing the media on Tuesday about the job cuts and the ongoing wage negotiations in the platinum sector.
The organisation held the four-day gathering after the Labour Registrar threatened to deregister the union if it failed to hold a congress in line with its constitution.
The union held a briefing earlier on Tuesday and announced that the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) facilitated wage negotiations with Amplats and Sibanye-Stillwater.
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president Joseph Mathunjwa said on Tuesday the union and some employers in the platinum mining sector were headed for another round of mediation at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
Mathunjwa has described the gathering as a display of Amcu’s democratic nature, despite criticism that the conference was merely held for appearances in light of the union’s troubles with the Labour Registrar.
Five positions including that of the president, deputy president and treasurer were uncontested.