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Johannesburg - A looming strike by Amcu about union recognition at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana will be regarded as illegal, the company said on Thursday.
Lonmin mining operations vice president Mark Munroe said: "In very clear terms, it would be deemed to be an illegal strike as put forth by the CCMA [Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration]."
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) said on Thursday that its members had voted in favour of a strike.
"We wrote a letter requesting a meeting in a bid to avoid a strike.
"We requested to meet the company on Monday.
"If we don't have an agreement by Tuesday, we will serve the company with a 48-hour notice to go on strike," Amcu national treasurer Jimmy Gama said.
Lonmin human capital manager Abey Kgotle said the company had not received an ultimatum from Amcu.
He said Lonmin had presented Amcu with the same recognition agreement it had with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), but that Amcu had rejected it.
Lonmin and Amcu had not reached an agreement at the CCMA and Lonmin applied for arbitration.
"If Amcu had to strike, the process at the CCMA would remain the same," he said.
"We are open to finding common ground with Amcu."
Labour court
Lonmin process division vice president Natascha Viljoen said the company was following due process, and all parties had to stick to this.
She said Lonmin had tried to expedite the process of removing NUM from its position as majority union, but had been prevented from doing so by a labour court ruling.
NUM had until July 16 to try and regain its majority status.
"We have the court order that we will comply with which requires us to give NUM an opportunity... to prove that they do have figures to suggest that they are the majority union," she said.
"Until such time, we will go ahead and continue conversations with Amcu to finalise their recognition agreement, but we will not yet be in a position to sign that agreement."
She said the reality was that Amcu was Lonmin's largest union.
Viljoen said the disciplinary process against eight NUM Lonmin employees accused of membership fraud was underway.
"This is a process between employees and the employers and we need to conclude it internally."
The mine lamented recent violence between employees.
"We cannot just stand by and watch as our employees and community members are murdered," Viljoen said.
"We have seen this kind of murder and violence last year and we have a duty to do everything we can to ensure that this does not happen again."
She said Lonmin had increased security and called on union leaders to stop "inflammatory talk.
Membership
"We appeal to all the leaders to appear with us on joint platforms and personally deliver the message of peace and calm.
"Lonmin invites the cabinet task team to join management and union leaders to start this programme."
A NUM shop steward was shot dead and another was critically wounded in Wonderkop on Monday.
On May 11, Amcu regional leader Mawethu Steven was shot dead at a tavern in Photsaneng and on the same day, twin brothers Ayanda and Andile Menzi were killed at a shack in Nkaneng, Wonderkop.
During a two-day strike in May, Amcu members demanded that NUM close its offices at Lonmin and it accused the union of membership fraud.
Forty-four people were killed during unrest at Lonmin in August.
Police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers on August 16.
Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.
