More than 4,000 Numsa members employed by contract at the three companies, Newrak, Reagetswe Mining Group and Triple M Mining, downed tools on Tuesday. The companies do work in Rustenburg for Implats, which flagged a Numsa recruiting drive last year in the area as a source of disruption.
Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola was quoted by EWN as saying that rock drill operators or RDOs “earn not more than R5,000 a month with no benefits” compared to the minimum of R17,000 per month with benefits that Implats’ own RDOs made.“We have noted claims that Numsa has made about ‘exploitative’ wages and working conditions. This is false, including the claim that some earn ‘R5,000 a month’. No employee earns anything near that low amount for a full month’s work,” the companies said.
“To the extent that the strike relates to demands for union recognition, there are different circumstances applying at the three companies. AMCU is the majority union at Reagetswe and Triple M, with Numsa representing between 16% and 26% of employees. At Triple M, Numsa was given limited organising rights to enable them to improve their representation. However, after 14 months, they were unable to improve their representation,” the three companies said in a statement.
An office on mine premises is something unions covet as it provides a recruitment base in the heart of the flock.