Minerals Council South Africa
Employment Relations
Employment Relations provides service excellence to our members in the field of employee relations, with respect to labour legislation and regulation, as well as collective bargaining.
CRITICAL TEAM MEMBERS
- Motsamai Motlhamme: Head: Employment Relations
- Thandeka Dube: Deputy Head: Employment Relations
- Erissa Martin: Policy Analyst: Employment Relations
CONTEXT
The origins of collective bargaining in the mining industry go back as far as 1915 when, for the first time, the Minerals Council was assigned the role of negotiating for members with employee organisations.
This is a practice that continues today in the gold sector where the Minerals Council operates by virtue of agreements between the participants and established practice (it is not a statutory bargaining council system) with flexibility being its most striking feature. Agreements, reached centrally, frequently reflect different provisions for different companies, particularly in respect of wage rates (differentiated basic wage rates are negotiated for companies linked to factors such as sustainability). When it comes to non-wage issues, however, there is usually uniformity in outcomes.
A further feature of the process is that not all issues are dealt with at centralised level: bargaining on basic wages and conditions of employment takes place at Minerals Council level while bargaining on organisational, operational and workplace issues is conducted at mine or company level. It frequently happens that framework agreements are formulated at the centre, leading to further negotiations on the issue concerned taking place at company or mine level. The labour relations climate in South Africa has changed dramatically in recent years with the emergence of new unions. In addition to the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and UASA, recent years have seen the rise of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and, to a lesser degree, NUMSA, in this sector. The Minerals Council has adopted an even-handed approach when negotiating with the unions.
KEY ACTIVITIES
- Providing specialist expertise and advisory input on employment relations and labour market issues.
- Formulating and mandating industry policies and position papers on issues that will impact on the mining industry in particular and employers generally.
- Conducting centralised wage negotiations for the gold sector.
- Facilitating interaction between Human Resources and Employment Relations representatives of member companies, principally through a standing committee known as the Labour Policy Committee.
- Representing members and mining interests in various key forums, such as Nedlac.
- Playing an active and leading role within the structures of Business Unity South Africa (Busa) to ensure that mining interests are fully taken into account by that body.
- Ongoing interaction with the leadership of the unions in the mining sector.
EXTERNAL BODIES
The Employment Relations team serves on a number of bodies to ensure that the interests of the mining industry are well represented in key policy formulating and advocacy forums, including:
- Business Unity South Africa (Busa)
- National Economic Development & Labour Council (Nedlac)
Source: https://www.mineralscouncil.org.za/work/employment-relations
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