Johannesburg - The CCMA is on standby at Lonmin's Rustenburg
operations on Tuesday to be ready should workers return to the negotiating
table.
"The CCMA is on standby to commence negotiations should
miners comply with the Peace Accord brokered last week," said Commission
for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) spokesperson Nersan Govender.
In terms of the Peace Accord signed last Thursday, workers
must go back to work for pay talks to resume.
Attendance figures for Tuesday were at 3%, said Lonmin
spokesperson Sue Vey.
Police and mine security had been monitoring and there were
no reports of trouble or violence at the mine overnight, she said.
The talks are aimed at ending a month-long strike at the
mine, which employs around 28 000 people and is one of the world's largest
platinum producers. Production has effectively been halted since August 10.
They were scheduled to start at noon on Monday and
representatives of four unions - the National Union of Mineworkers, Uasa,
Solidarity and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union were
present.
A long term pay agreement had been reopened for
renegotiation in the light of the events of the past month.
This includes the death of 34 people in a clash with police,
and 10 others in days leading up to that.
But work attendance was only at 6.34% on Monday while a
march by up to 5 000 people took place outside.
Inside, the CCMA and representatives of the four unions
waited for the representatives of a splinter group of about 3 000 people to
arrive.
They sent clergymen to say they would not be coming and
would only return to work if their salaries were increased to R12 500.
The CCMA is now on standby for them to return.
Earlier, Barnard Mokwena, executive vice president of human
capital and external affairs at Lonmin platinum mine, said the group had also
complained about the venue.
"The venue cannot be used as an excuse at this stage at
all. Nobody has a problem to change the venue," Mokwena told SAfm.
It was already agreed last Thursday that wage talks would
happen on Monday, he said.
"So it really baffled us when we gathered, as we had
all agreed... that the delegation of employees did not show up," said
Mokwena.
"A bishop (speaking on behalf of the delegation) came
later saying the workers were not aware of the meeting...
"All we got through the bishop is that the workers had
no intention to come through, and also that they did not like the venue."
According to early reports, the violence was apparently
sparked by rivalry between Num and Amcu, whose members were demanding monthly
salaries of R12 500.
According to the peace accord signed last week, workers were
to return to work on Monday to allow the wage talks to continue.
CCMA officials would speak to Lonmin workers on Tuesday and
explain to them what was happening.
"Today (Tuesday), we'll give it another go... we'll
keep trying and trying and trying," said Mokwena.
"There is no way we can resolve this situation if
parties do not come to the table."
He said no deadline had been set for the talks to be finalised.
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