AFP
*S. Africa unions call for renegotiation of mine contracts* *Claudine Renaud, AFP, Johannesburg, 2 October 2012*JOHANNESBURG --- South Africa's powerful trade unions on Tuesday demanded mine owners renegotiate up to 120,000 workers' contracts a year before they are due to expire, in a bid to end months of labour unrest that has claimed five more lives.
Trade union federation COSATU and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said a two-year deal for coal and gold miners that was inked last year urgently needed to be rewritten amid deadly labour disputes that have crippled production.
COSATU secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi demanded "negotiations on wages and conditions of employment be reopened, or that the existing agreement lapsing in 2013 is brought forward."
COSATU's demand holds substantial clout because the union is part of South Africa's ruling alliance, led by the ANC.
The current wage agreement, which gave mineworkers 7.5 to 10 percent pay increases, is due to expire in August next year.
But Vavi called on "the Chamber of Mines to waste no more time before engaging with the NUM and other unions in the mining industry to ensure that a lasting solution is found to the current stalemate."
For almost 100 years labour relations at South Africa's economically vital mines have been managed through some form of centralised wage agreements.
But a recent round of labour disputes have called the highly structured system into question.
Miners at gold, coal and platinum mines across the country have launched unilateral strikes in the wake of deadly clashes at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine, which killed 46 people.
Saddled with debt and struggling to make ends meet, miners seem increasingly willing to bypass NUM and COSATU in negotiating new contracts.
Many accuse both of being too cosy with mine bosses and of filling their own pockets, a sentiment that has helped the emergence of more militant unions.
That has led to a standoff with mine owners, who complain they are already burdened by some of the highest production costs of anywhere in the world.
While some mines have agreed to pay increases, others have toughened their stance considerably. Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the world's top platinum miner, has ordered 26,000 striking workers to report for disciplinary hearings on Tuesday or face the sack.
"The company will... be left with no alternative but to dismiss, in their absence, all employees who do not present themselves," it said in a statement.
And gold giant AngloGold Ashanti warned strikers there they might be forced to shutter some operations if strike action continued.
"If the current unprotected strike continues, it compounds risks of a premature downsizing of AngloGold Ashanti's South African operations," said chief executive Mark Cutifani.
Meanwhile related violence has continued unabated.According to NUM secretary general Frans Baleni five more people died on Sunday around Rustenburg, a major mining centre two hours drive northwest of Johannesburg.
Two of the workers were killed around the Impala platinum mine, whose owners agreed to limited wage hikes earlier this year.
In a separate attack the house of a NUM steward in Rustenburg was hit with a petrol bomb over the weekend, leaving him hospitalised with serious injuries.
The Chamber of Mines of South Africa did not respond to requests for comment.
*Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.**From: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gE-5heH_lTbihse1goKikN-tV9bA?docId=CNG.22011a6a4c26a3b31e175088bb6ae443.141*
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