BUSINESS
CURBING PROTRACTED
AND VIOLENT STRIKES IN 2018
Johan Olivier
At a time where unemployment rates are
escalating, the need to ensure growth and
stability of the mining industry, including its
labour relations, has never been more acute.
Protracted and / or violent strikes are
likely to be a disincentive to potential
mining investors.
I
“The Chamber of Mines
recently estimated that
the mining industry was
responsible for creating
approximately 450 000
direct jobs in South
Africa.”
8 _ QUARRY SA | MARCH/APRIL 2018
n one of its most recent surveys, the
Chamber of Mines estimated that the
mining industry was responsible for
creating approximately 450 000 direct jobs
in South Africa. The most recently published
Fraser Institutes research also reported
that South Africa has labour regulations,
employment agreements and labour militancy
or work disruptions which could act as a
relatively high deterrent to investment. One of
the key contributors to this figure is likely to
be strike action.
Although the right to strike is a sign of
a healthy democracy and serves to balance
the power of employees and firms through
collective bargaining, protracted and / or
violent strikes are likely to be a disincentive
to potential mining investors. Research
published by the Mandela Initiative suggests
that although the frequency of strikes has
decreased substantially in South Africa since
2000, it appears that when they do occur, they
do more intensely. This trend has played itself
out clearly in the mining industry.
In a bid to address this issue in mining,
the National Economic Development and
Labour Council (NEDLAC) negotiations of
2016 resulted in the creation of the NEDLAC
Accord on collective bargaining and industrial
action (the Accord) as well as the Code
of Good Practice: collective bargaining,
industrial action and picketing.
The parties to the Accord are the
government (including state institutions
like the CCMA and Bargaining Councils),
employers’ organisations and trade union
federations and their members. In its broadest
terms, these parties have undertaken to ensure
that, should violence, intimidation or the
threat of harm occur in strikes, they will do
everything in their power to ensure that the
strike is solved as promptly as possible.
The Code details the practical application
of the Accord. It provides guidance on
collective bargaining and dispute resolution,
among others. In terms of their effect, anyone
interpreting the Labour Relations Act (LRA)
must take the code into account as well. As
things currently stand, however, the trade
union federation, SAFTU (of which NUMSA
is a member) and the trade union AMCU have
not signed the Accord. As such, the full benefit