NUM: No violence needed for Gold Fields deal

Cape Town – The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has expressed satisfaction with a three-year wage deal it has secured with Gold Fields.

“Our members are quite pleased with the wage agreement which was concluded without any strike, violence, intimidation and loss of life,” the NUM said in a statement.

The NUM is the majority union at Goldfields with an 82% member penetration. On Friday NUM general secretary Frans Baleni said the union hopes to attract other workers to the union as non-members will also benefit from the package.

The agreement is effective from April 1 2015 and the duration is three years.

1. Salary increase for category 4-8 (lowest category)
Year 1 is 21.46%
Year 2 is 14.76%
Year 3 is 12.97%

Other categories (miners, artisans and officials)
Year 1 is 8%
Year 2 is 8%
Year 3 is 9%

2. Cash basic wage per month for an entry-level worker category 4-8 (lowest category)
Year 1 R7 000
Year 2 R8 000
Year 3 R9 000

Cash value wage per month for an entry-level worker including other benefits is as follows:
Year 1 is R12 907
Year 2 is R14 322
Year 3 R16 238

3. Scarce skills retention covers only 26% of the workforce
Year 1 is R4 000
Year 2 is  R4 500
Year 3 is R5 000

4. Housing allowance and Housing scheme (all categories)
Year 1 is R3 000 per month
Year 2 is R3 000 per month
Year 3 is R3 500 per month

The company will enable all categories of workers to receive an interest-free housing loan of R100 000 for first time applicants for the purpose of purchasing a house.

5. Medical incapacity payout will be R42 500

6. Funeral benefit for all miners, artisans and officials will be R30 000

7. Education of dependant children
The Matshediso Policy will assist dependents of the deceased workers, irrespective of how many they are.

8. Employee share ownership plan
The parties will engage on the practicalities of reviewing the current ESOP.

In the light of the wage agreement on Friday, Gold Fields advised that it will not participate in centralised collective bargaining for the upcoming wage negotiations.

READ: NUM, Gold Fields agree to 21% wage hike

Spokesperson on behalf of the Gold Producers Charmane Russell told Fin24 that Gold Fields has engaged separately with NUM because their operations are different from other South African producers.

“It is the only mine that is fully mechanised, whereas the other producers are more labour intensive,” she said.