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Johannesburg - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) reduced its pay demands for underground employees on Monday and is willing to negotiate further with gold producers.
NUM made “a huge move” by asking that wages be increased to R9 500 a month from the original request for R10 500, General Secretary David Sipunzi said in an interview on SABC TV.
That’s still 67% more than current wages of about R5 700 monthly. The inflation rate was 4.7% in June.
“What would help these negotiations to progress faster would be for the employers to table a good offer,” he said. “Then we are prepared to negotiate and meet them halfway.”
Companies including AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] and Harmony [JSE:HAR] have proposed a five-year wage deal with annual increases of up to 13%, plus a share of profits and improved job security and living conditions. The NUM speaks for about 52% of employees at the producers.
While keen to avoid a repeat of last year’s five-month platinum strike, the companies’ ability to raise salaries is limited by spiraling costs and plunging prices that have left much of the industry unprofitable.
The Chamber of Mines, which represents the companies, will make its final offer to unions this week, Livhuwani Mammburu, a spokesperson for the NUM, said by phone. This will be the lobby group’s final proposal since talks started last month, he said.
