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Credibility of Lonmin CEO at stake

Johannesburg - The recognition of Amcu as the majority union at mining company Lonmin [JSE:LON] is disappointing, trade union Uasa said on Friday.

"[We] are disappointed to the extreme by the decision of Lonmin to grant majority recognition to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu)," spokesperson Andr Venter said.

He said the move excluded Uasa, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), and Solidarity. The agreement set a threshold of a 30% membership for any trade union to be recognised by the company.

Venter said: "We see it is an incredibly disappointing yet fantastic turnaround of the commitment given by the CEO of Lonmin, Ben Magara, when he introduced himself to us as the new CEO... on June 20."

Lonmin and Amcu signed the recognition agreement on Wednesday.

Venter said Magara told unions the founding members of the Lonmin bargaining forum, being Uasa, Solidarity, and NUM, would remain intact. New unions would require 35% for recognition.

"It is clear that he has gone back on his undertaking which will affect his credibility and make future dealings with him difficult," Venter said.

By recognising Amcu as having majority representation, Lonmin had made a mockery of the Marikana peace accord as well as Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe's national framework agreement initiative.

In July, an application by NUM to stop Lonmin from de-recognising it as the majority union was struck off the roll by the Labour Court in Johannesburg.

NUM claimed it had detected irregularities in the transfer of its members to Amcu. The union was given time to recruit more members to retain its majority union status, or vacate its offices at Lonmin's mines.

The offices are provided to the majority union at each shaft, while other unions have one central office.

During a two-day strike in May, Amcu members demanded that the NUM close its offices at Lonmin, and accused the union of membership fraud.



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