Labour unions at Sibanye Stillwater lament job losses at the company
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Labour unions at Sibanye Stillwater have lamented job losses from the company’s restructuring process as they continue to engage in a bid curb further job losses.
The mining company announced that it has concluded its consultative process with labour unions and other representatives of non-unionised members to reduce its local workforce.
Sibanye embarked on an 18-month restructuring process of its various operations. In a statement, the company says the process has slashed its workforce by 11 000 workers over the period.
It’s a race against time for labour unions at Sibanye Stillwater to prevent more job losses. The unions are taking issue with the company’s restructuring process that has left many of their members unemployed.
The National Union of Mineworkers is one of the labour unions that formed part of the consultative process to curb job losses. Unions managed to convince mine management to extend the life of some of the mining operations that were lined up to shut down.
“We were in the process, we were able to sign an agreement on job saving mechanism wherein we tried to make sure that we open voluntary severance packages and early retirement for those people that feel they’ve worked enough and can do without employment, so after that another process was started try place the affected employees. Another critical part that helped us save jobs is in the Free State, they had an intention to close shaft at Beatrix but with persuasion and engagements, parties agreed that we give it some life span,” says Olehile Kgware, NUM convener at Sibanye Stillwaters.
Labour unions say workers have been frustrated by the process. The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) says its members have been on the receiving end of the jobs bloodbath at Sibanye, accusing the mine of prioritising profits.
“Their admission that they are restructuring loss-making shafts vindicates our argument in the previous statement, where we said that Sibanye is retrenching workers solely in pursuit of profits. Capitalistically, their purpose and social responsibility are owed not to job preservation or employment creation but to raking in profits. This capitalistic logic has led Sibanye Stillwater and other firms to disrupt the livelihood of thousands of mineworkers through retrenchments callously. As we have argued before, the ripple effect of these retrenchments extends beyond the affected employees, impacting entire families and communities who rely on the income of mineworkers for their sustenance,” Trevor Shaku, SAFTU spokesperson.
Sibanye says several measures were adopted to contain the job cuts. However, the company has warned that the decision could be reviewed. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) says the country’s labour laws must be reviewed in a bid to save jobs. It says section 189 process always favours the employer, leaving workers compromised.
“As organised labour, we enter the section 189 very compromised. The labour relations act is not worker friendly, it is purely in the interest of the employers, as long as it gives 60 days consultation and after consultation whether agree or not agreed, the company can go ahead and retrench. So, that where the biggest challenge is hence our call as AMCU to say let’s amend the labour relations act in particular section 189, section 197 so that there could be proper consultation so that then we can influence the process and say to the company that we can save jobs in this or other ways. Currently you can do as much as you can but the company knows that the clock is ticking, come 60 days, agreed or not, they implement,” says Phuthuma Manyathi, AMCU convener at Sibanye Stillwaters.
The workers are now pinning their hopes on the country’s political developments to come up with stronger measures to protect existing jobs and create more employment in the sector.
Gwede Mantashe returns in the sector now as the Minister of Minerals and Petroleum and will have to work with labour unions to address some of the challenges in the mining sector.