Stop lying to workers, says Baleni

Johannesburg - Mine management must stop lying to workers, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary Frans Baleni said on Thursday.

"Can management be honest, transparent and never delay the truth," he said at The Joburg Indaba on mining in Sandton, Johannesburg.

"I'm trying to be polite and say people must not lie."

Baleni said agreements needed to be respected and implemented.

"Some of the problems we've seen are a result of collective bargaining agreements which have been undermined."

He said the slogan of "people first" seemed to be an empty one. The sustainability of the mining sector had to be in the best interests of workers and other parties such as mining communities.

"We must resolve areas of mistrust. Workers are never told, management decides to set targets or move targets."

Just before Baleni's address delegates at the indaba were asked to answer questions relating to unions. One was whether South Africa was mature enough for competition between unions.

The majority of delegates, 63.1%, said no, while 36.9% said yes.

Baleni said management had contributed to the emergence of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

He was asked whether the NUM contributed to its numbers by not servicing its own members.

"There are certain weaknesses which we have found... we cannot claim to have been perfect and 100%," Baleni said.

"The reality is that management also contributed."

He said advances made by the NUM 15 years ago, to deal with rockdrill operators' problems and the mines' partisan grading system, had been ignored.

Baleni said the NUM had learnt a lot since 2012 and was looking at organisational renewal.

Amcu emerged as an alternative union for mineworkers during a strike in the platinum mining sector in 2012.

It has since taken over as the dominant union in the platinum belt in the North West, sparking rivalry between itself and the NUM.

Earlier this year, Amcu led a five-month strike in some platinum mines.

Baleni said the NUM's fear was that if this state of affairs continued it would divide workers.

"The fear we having [is that] if this continues we are likely to see fragmentation of labour. We are likely to see this instability [in the industry] for the next 36 months."

He said workers had to start realising "what is fake and what is real".