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Johannesburg - Trade union federation Cosatu on Tuesday called on mine owners to renegotiate up to 120 000 workers' contracts a year before they are due to expire, in a bid to end months of turmoil and violent protests.
Cosatu - which is a member of the country's ruling alliance - and its member the National Union of Mineworkers (Num) said a centralised agreement for miners that was inked last year had been overtaken by events.
The unions demanded "negotiations on wages and conditions of employment be reopened, or that the existing agreement lapsing in 2013 is brought forward."
Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi called on "the Chamber of Mines to waste no more time before engaging with the Num and other unions in the mining industry to ensure that a lasting solution is found to the current stalemate."
The current two-year wage agreement was inked by the Chamber of Mines of South Africa and the National Union of Mineworkers on August 2, 2011.
The deal, covering coal an gold miners, saw wage increases of 7.5% to 10% for miners, artisans and officials.
For almost 100 years labour relations at South Africa's economically vital mines have been managed through some form of centralised wage agreements.
But a recent round of labour disputes have called the highly structured system into question.
Miners at gold and coal mines across the country have launched unilateral strikes in the wake of deadly clashes at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine, which killed 46 people.
Saddled with debt and struggling to make ends meet, miners have seemed increasingly willing to bypass Num and Cosatu in negotiating new contracts.
The collective agreements do not cover platinum or diamond mines.
