Chamber of Mines negotiating in bad faith - union

Cape Town - The Chamber of Mines is negotiating in bad faith, claimed trade union Solidarity on Tuesday.

This comes after the Chamber reversed a mandate that was communicated to trade unions earlier this month. It stated that negotiations at a centralised level, as was done before, will no longer take place.

This is a reversal of the Chamber’s stance communicated to the unions on 20 January when Solidarity and other trade unions met with the Chamber of Mines, said Connie Prinsloo, deputy general secretary of the mining industry at Solidarity.

“On 20 January 2017, the Chamber confirmed that centralised negotiations will still be held and also reiterated its wish that the negotiations be subject to a strict protocol in order to ensure an efficient and speedy process – to which all unions present agreed,” he said.  

Prinsloo also stated that at that meeting the Chamber had laid a firm foundation for future engagement, especially in view of the upcoming 2017 wage negotiations.

“Solidarity is extremely perturbed by this state of affairs and believes the Chamber’s actions signal that it is negotiating in bad faith,” Prinsloo said.

The union said that organised labour declared a dispute against the Chamber and the employers after they had opted to follow a route of confrontation instead of seeking an amiable solution.