PALABORA MINING CO. LTD
REG NO. 1956/002134/06
PRESS RELEASE
DEADLOCK IN NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN NUM AND PALABORA
Negotiations on wages and conditions of employment between the National
Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Palabora Mining Company have deadlocked and
there is the possibility of an imminent strike at the company's mining
operations.
Talks between the parties broke down in the early hours of 9 May whilst
negotiations were being conducted with the assistance of the Commission for
Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
The Commission issued a certificate in which it is stated that the dispute
remained unresolved and confirmed that NUM could exercise their right to
strike.
Afterwards a secret ballot was conducted amongst NUM members, which showed
an outcome of 94.18% members in favour of a strike.
Palabora is presently putting contingency plans in place to contain the
envisaged disruption as far as possible. The company also stated during the
talks that, should negotiations break down, they would institute a lockout
during which no striking employees would be allowed on company property.
Although most of the issues were resolved during the talks, NUM decided a
deadlock had been reached and they would call a strike.
The final offer by the Company remains at 8% increase on wages and the final
demand by NUM is a 13% increase on wages or alternatively an 8% increase on
wages plus a R1000 per month housing allowance.
Palabora is amongst the highest payers in the industry and housing
allowances paid to the majority of NUM members already range between R588 to
R1 000 per month.
The annual wage and conditions of employment negotiations started in early
January 2001, with NUM making a number of demands which included: rights and
privileges for union representatives, a 15% pay increase, and the scrapping
of the proposed performance management system and the disparity in housing
allowances.
Tough negotiations between the parties, led by Mr Simeon Langa, Palabora's
General Manager Human Resources and Mr Joel Lebepe, local Chairman of NUM
followed, in which most of the issues brought to the table by NUM were
addressed and resolved.
Presently allowances are in most cases paid separately from salaries. The
company feels that it is in the interest of all concerned to ultimately have
an all-inclusive wage package.
Mr. Dave Sadler, MD at Palabora Mining Company, said that it must be borne
in mind that the house purchasing scheme announced in 1995 for Namakgale,
was based on the housing conditions of employment in place at the time, and
reviewed annually between the company and NUM during wage negotiations.
Prior to the new arrangement, employees lived in company owned housing with
all liabilities taken care of by the Company.
This agreement took into account maintenance costs, the existing utility
costs and the rates and taxes that applied in the various areas under
jurisdiction of the Phalaborwa Transitional Local Council at the time.
Mr. Sadler also wishes to stress the fact that the revised conditions of
employment that were introduced, involving house ownership plus housing
allowances, were initiated by the Company and were completely at the
discretion of each employee to accept or reject.
Palabora Mining Company however wishes to emphasise its willingness to seek
a solution to this problem.
Mr. Sadler expressed sincere hope that the matter could be resolved without
going through the unpleasant and fruitless ordeal of a strike by employees.
Z W Ntuli
Chairman
18 May, 2001
Profile Group (Pty) Ltd. has taken care in preparing all information on this website, but does not accept any liability for errors or out-of-date information.
