Warring parties strike a deal just in time for the seven-day deadline set by the Department of Mineral Resources
Thu, 3 Nov. 2011
Diversified miner Xstrata and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have reached an agreement over Xstrata’s disputed employee share-ownership scheme, the Department of Mineral Resources said on Wednesday.
Over the past seven days, the department has been facilitating discussions to resolve the two parties’ dispute over Xstrata’s share scheme, which the NUM rejected on the grounds that it was rigged in favour of managers.
Xstrata held firm to its decision to allocate these shares using three different employee bands, which prompted members of the NUM to go on strike on October 16.
With no end in sight, the department summoned both parties to its offices last week and gave them seven days to hammer out their differences in meetings facilitated by advocate Sandile Nogxina, the department’s former director-general and special adviser to Minister of Mineral Resources Susan Shabangu .
The union suspended the strike to facilitate these negotiations.
The parties struck a deal resolving the dispute, which will see Xstrata allocating shares equally over all staff levels and the department recognising the share scheme as compliant with the requirements of the Mining Charter, giving Xstrata the credits it needs to meet its 26% black economic empowerment ownership obligations across both its coal and alloys divisions.
The agreement will also see the NUM calling off its strike with immediate effect.
"We applaud both NUM and Xstrata on the co-operative spirit that they demonstrated during these negotiations in the national interest," said Mr Nogxina.
Commenting on the deal, NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said Xstrata could have avoided the strike by "simply doing what they have done now, which is acceding to our demand".
"We had initially conceived this (share-ownership plan) as an incentive scheme, but during the discussions, we recognised the opportunity it provided to fulfil the spirit of the Mining Charter, as it provides a shareholding to Xstrata’s workers, 84% of whom are historically disadvantaged South Africans," said Songezo Zibi, corporate affairs manager at Xstrata. "This means Xstrata South Africa is fully compliant with the 26% ownership requirement of the charter."
(sourced Businessday)
Thu, 3 Nov. 2011
Diversified miner Xstrata and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have reached an agreement over Xstrata’s disputed employee share-ownership scheme, the Department of Mineral Resources said on Wednesday.
Over the past seven days, the department has been facilitating discussions to resolve the two parties’ dispute over Xstrata’s share scheme, which the NUM rejected on the grounds that it was rigged in favour of managers.
Xstrata held firm to its decision to allocate these shares using three different employee bands, which prompted members of the NUM to go on strike on October 16.
With no end in sight, the department summoned both parties to its offices last week and gave them seven days to hammer out their differences in meetings facilitated by advocate Sandile Nogxina, the department’s former director-general and special adviser to Minister of Mineral Resources Susan Shabangu .
The union suspended the strike to facilitate these negotiations.
The parties struck a deal resolving the dispute, which will see Xstrata allocating shares equally over all staff levels and the department recognising the share scheme as compliant with the requirements of the Mining Charter, giving Xstrata the credits it needs to meet its 26% black economic empowerment ownership obligations across both its coal and alloys divisions.
The agreement will also see the NUM calling off its strike with immediate effect.
"We applaud both NUM and Xstrata on the co-operative spirit that they demonstrated during these negotiations in the national interest," said Mr Nogxina.
Commenting on the deal, NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said Xstrata could have avoided the strike by "simply doing what they have done now, which is acceding to our demand".
"We had initially conceived this (share-ownership plan) as an incentive scheme, but during the discussions, we recognised the opportunity it provided to fulfil the spirit of the Mining Charter, as it provides a shareholding to Xstrata’s workers, 84% of whom are historically disadvantaged South Africans," said Songezo Zibi, corporate affairs manager at Xstrata. "This means Xstrata South Africa is fully compliant with the 26% ownership requirement of the charter."
(sourced Businessday)
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