NUM accuses Chamber of Mines of negotiating in bad faith
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday declared a dispute with the Chamber of Mines members in the coal sector after their intention to walk out of the centralised bargaining forum.
NUM said it had a meeting with the Chamber on January 20, where the Chamber confirmed that they were prepared to remain in the centralised bargaining forum and that they were very excited that they reached the agreement with the unions.
The Chamber put two conditions on the table. One condition was to deal with the issue of the threshold agreement and the other was to have rules of engagement going forward, especially in view of the upcoming 2017 coal sector wage negotiations.
According to Peter Bailey, NUM Chief Negotiator in the coal sector, the Chamber has now reversed its stance, though, again informing unions that centralised bargaining negotiations would not take place this year.
"We met with the Chamber of Mines today where they informed the unions today they do not have an agreement to remain in the centralised bargaining negotiations saying they misrepresented their members and so forth," Bailey said in a statement.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE BREAKING NEWS.
"We then felt that we were being disrespected, misled, abused and we were driven to a process where we felt we could no longer tolerate this behaviour."
The NUM said it was going to refer the matter to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) as a matter of urgency.
Bailey said the NUM would commence with picketing from now on and soon after the CCMA has intervened and issued a certificate to strike, the union would then embark on a national strike.
"The strike process will not be resolved until the Chamber of Mines withdraws its notification and until it negotiates with unions in good faith," Bailey said.
"If the Chamber of Mines wants an unproductive mining industry, if it is in search of the collapse of the coal sector industry and if the Chamber of Mines wants anarchy we can respond with anarchy."
Meanwhile, trade union Solidarity also accused the Chamber of negotiating in bad faith after it reversed it stated that stated that negotiations at a centralised level, as was done before, would no longer take place.
Connie Prinsloo, deputy general secretary of the mining industry at Solidarity, said his union would declare a dispute with the Chamber.
"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.