300 strike for a better future/ life
'Employees feel like third-class citizens since the merging of Sibanye and Gold One' — NUM.
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) recently organised a peaceful march at the Sibanye Gold Cooke operations mine for workers who felt they were being treated unfairly.
Sibanye Gold did not take any chances and all routes to the Cooke 3 shaft of Sibanye were guarded by armed forces and police from Westonaria. Despite the worry, the strike played out without any violence and the NUM handed over their memorandum to the heads of Sibanye Gold.
The estimated 300 workers marched from the hostels to the entry of Cooke 3 shaft with boards displaying slogans like ‘Cooke’s workers are essential slaves’ and ‘Away with racism’.
NUM’s memorandum stated that the Cooke operation employees felt like third class citizens since the merging of Sibanye and Gold One and feel like they are exploited.
Some statements in the memorandum read:
“We want to remind the company that our demands are well thought out in 2015. They are informed by the conditions we are today in this company. We have marched today as build up for total strike action protesting the unilateral changes of conditions of employment.
“We must also remind the company that the Freedom Chatter declares that in a democratic South Africa: ‘There shall Be Work and Security’. We have seen retrenchments when Sibanye acquires companies. Our demands are reasonable justifiable and achievable.”
The memorandum further lists 29 demands from the workers including more security around the hostels, more housing, investigations into the high water and electricity rates they are paying where they stay and more bus and railway fares paid to employees.
Thabisile Phumo, Sibanye’s vice president of communication responded on the strike saying, “We have received the memorandum of demands from NUM. We will look into the issues raised and respond accordingly.”
