Dispute at Impala Platinum over maternity leave and housing 07 - 01 - 06

Workers at Impala Platinum, the second largest producer of platinum, near Rustenburg have declared a dispute against the company. This followed a meeting that was looking at the implementation of existing agreements between the parties.

According to Thabiso Poho, the union's representative in Impala, " management shows no care whatsoever by wanting to increase hostel fees, close kitchens and residential blocks thereby impacting negatively on accommodation arrangements in other hostels". It is claimed that the company is raising the question of cutting costs, which is why it is doing this. This is indeed very strange given the boom in the platinum sector of the mining industry. That Implats does not want to convert the single sex hostels into family units in order to avoid these problems can only mean that they think these men are perfect in compounds where they are enclosed like animals.

What is also of concern to workers is that the medical aid offered by the company does not enable them to include their spouses and dependants, and they cannot use it outside of the company because when they do so they have to bear the costs.

Another cause of the dispute is the fact that, while pregnant women do go on a four months paid maternity leave, their jobs are not secured upon their return and in most cases they lose them. This can only remind us of the dark days of apartheid when black women were subjected to birth control by racist white companies. For a big company such as Impala to be involved in such inhumane practices leaves a bad taste in our mouth.

The union has declared a dispute and will be engaging in internal dispute resolution processes with the management in the coming weeks.