Workers want out, but Amcu stands firm

Johannesburg - The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) will not abandon its pay demand of at least R12 500 a month, the trade union's leader Joseph Mathunjwa said on Thursday.

"This is the line. We are drawing the line like they drew the line," he told hundreds of Amcu members in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg.

"Comrades, we are not to be threatened."

Hundreds of Amcu members gathered at platinum miner Lonmin's offices to hand over a memorandum of demands. The union has been on strike in the platinum sector for over two months.

Addressing union members sitting in the road, Mathunjwa said platinum companies should go back to the negotiating table to end the strike in the sector.

"We are not apologetic," he said.

"If they are saying they are not feeling the pinch of the strike they are lying," he said. The crowd shouted "yes, yes, yes" and punched the air.

'Irreparable harm'

Last week, mining bosses said the strike had caused irreparable harm, and losses of an estimated R10bn in revenue.

Mathunjwa told the crowd Amcu was singing the "same song" it did when the "Marikana massacre" happened in August 2012.

Mathunjwa said it was the same Lonmin management at present that made the promises of R12 500 after the deaths at Marikana.

"Move away from 9.5% and deliver on R12 500 promises made by the [Lonmin] CEO," he said.

"Negotiate in good faith... Companies come back to the table, let's negotiate the four-years agreement."

Force majeure

Platinum producer Lonmin has declared "force majeure" with some contractors at its South African mines due to the effects of a lengthy strike, meaning a drop in business for those suppliers and a growing impact on the economy as a whole.

The announcement by Lonmin CEO Ben Magara follows similar moves by rivals Impala Platinum and Anglo American Platinum.

"Every day this strike lasts, R67m which is supposed to be spent on goods and services is not being spent," Magara told a media briefing in Johannesburg, referring to spending by the three companies collectively.

Force majeure is a term used by the likes of miners and oil companies when forces beyond their control prevent them meeting obligations.

Magara said R7m was not being paid each day in taxes and royalties, because of the strike, though such numbers "do not tell the story about the increasing concern of our investors about our operating environment and our customers who are finding us unreliable."

Lonmin had not gone to the open market to buy platinum to supply customers and would do so only as a last resort, Magara added.

Rival Amplats has said it will do so if needed as the strike has hit 40% of global output of the precious metal, used for emissions-capping catalytic converters in automobiles.

Fatique

But Magara said there were signs of rank and file fatigue as the strike drags on and that a survey conducted via cellphone text messages showed most striking Lonmin workers wanted to return to work.

The companies say Amcu is using intimidation to keep its members in line, allegations the union denies though its brief history on the platinum belt has been violent.

Amcu emerged as the top platinum union in 2012 after poaching tens of thousands of members from the once unrivalled National Union of Mineworkers in a bloody turf war in which dozens were killed and a wave of wildcat strikes was unleashed.

The current stoppage is legal and has been far less bloody than the periodic eruptions of 2012, but may ultimately prove more damaging.

The strike has had little impact on spot prices which were around $1 432.00 an ounce on Thursday, slightly under the levels fetched on the eve of the strike in late January.