Johannesburg - The central committee of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), its highest decision-making body between union congresses, last week endorsed the nomination of James Motlatsi, its president, to a four-year presidency of the International Chemical Energy Mining and General Workers' Union (Icem).
Motlatsi, who is the vice-president of Icem, will be the first trade union leader from the developing world to be elevated to the helm of the international organisation when it meets for its second congress, and first-ever on African soil, in November.
Archie Palane, the deputy general secretary of the NUM, said South Africa had accumulated enough mining and energy industry experience to enable it to lead such an important international labour organisation.
Palane said the NUM would work in solidarity to stem job loses in the mining and energy sectors.
The South African mining industry lost 143 000 mineworkers last year, of which 70 000 were NUM members, which had necessitated an aggressive membership drive.
Palane said the central committee also critically looked at its collective bargaining approach in terms of the length of plenary (two to three years) agreements.
The committee resolved that in the event of mining houses merging, long-term agreements should be reopened to realign different regimes of working conditions.
The committee also resolved to realign the collective bargaining process with the recently promulgated Basic Conditions of Employment Act.