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NUM still struggling to win over members

Rustenburg - The once powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is still battling to recover from its dramatic drop in membership on the platinum belt in North West where the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) gained thousands of followers during the infamous Marikana strike.

At 30 September 2012 NUM boasted some 14 560 members at the Lonmin [JSE:LON] platinum mine in Rustenburg out of a workforce of 28 000 in 2012. But by February this year, that number stood at only 2 240.

In September 2012 Amcu represented 21% or 5 880 works at Lonmin - a number that has changed dramatically by February this year following the August 2012 wildcat strike which culminated in the deaths of 44 people and which made world headlines.

"Amcu represents 74% of total own employee workforce and 85% of Cat 4-9 occupational category," said Lonmin spokesperson Sue Vey.

She said the United Association of South Africa (Uasa) trade union represented three percent, Solidarity four percent and the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union (Ceppwawu) one percent. Ten percent of the workers do not belong to any union.

The Farlam commission

President Jacob Zuma appointed retired judge Ian Farlam to chair a commission to probe the Marikana incident. The commission completed its work and was expected to hand its findings and recommendation to president Jacob Zuma by March 31.

But as the the president considers the Farlam commission report, NUM's acting spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu claimed the union was making progress in rebuilding its number but would not provide any numbers.

"Recruitment is ongoing. We cannot give out information at this stage. We are making progress," he told News24.

Amcu has also made inroads at Aquarius Kroondal mine outside Rustenburg, one of the mines where NUM was still the dominant union in 2012.

Charmane Russell for Aquarius said any union with more than 15% of employees within a bargaining category had the right to organise on the mine. Unions with 35% or greater representation had the right to bargain and to have offices at the mine.

She said at the end of February the NUM represented more than 35% of employees.

"Should a union drop below the level of 35% representation in a bargaining unit, that union will be advised and given a period of three months during which it has the opportunity to increase this representation.

"Should it fail to do so, it will no longer have bargaining rights, but will still hold organisational rights."

No choice but to join Amcu

Loila Ndlovu, a worker at Aquarius, said she joined Amcu after feeling that NUM officials did not care about workers' problems.

"They did not take us seriously. We had no choice but to switch to Amcu," she said.

Amcu national organiser Dumisa Nkalitsha said Amcu was growing fast in Rustenburg and there was only one more mine on the platinum belt where it needed to gain more members to dominate.

"Amcu is a majority in the platinum belt but we are left with Royal Bafokeng Platinum [RBPlat] to conquer." He claimed that Workers at RBPlats are being threatened if they want to join Amcu. "This is the only thing holding us", he said.

NUM is still a dominant union at Royal Bafokeng Platinum [JSE:RBP].

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