The platinum mine strike in a nutshell

Johannesburg - The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has launched strikes in a dispute over wages with the world's top three platinum producers.

The following are some facts and figures about Amcu's demands, the offers from Anglo Platinum (Amplats) [JSE:AMS], Impala Platinum (Implats) [JSE:IMP] and Lonmin [JSE:LON], and wages in the sector.

Amcu's demands

Under the populist battle cry of a "living wage", Amcu is demanding minimum entry-level pay of R12 500 a month from the three platinum producers - a more than doubling of current levels.

Company offers

The three platinum producers say they can ill afford such increases as they struggle to recover from a wave of wildcat strikes that battered the sector in 2012.

The companies, which last week said Amcu's demands were "unaffordable and unrealistic", have made offers of between 7.5% and 8.5%, well above current inflation of 5.4%.

Current pay levels

Amcu's demands relate to the basic minimum wage for underground workers, which is generally around R5 500 a month. But that is not the whole picture.

Aside from the basic wage, companies add benefits such as holiday and accommodation allowances and pension contributions.

Implats, for example, says the guaranteed minimum remuneration for its entry-level surface workers is just shy of R8 000 a month and almost R8 700 a month for underground miners, if other allowances and contributions are added to the basic wage.

A living wage?

Calculating a "living wage" - an emotive goal that echoes demands made over the decades by mine workers - is no easy task.

The issue is complicated by many variables and the difficulty of defining fair pay for work that may often require only low levels of skill but is tough and dangerous, not to mention global platinum prices and what companies can afford if they want to remain profitable.

A Reuters analysis last year, based on a rough estimation of what a household of such size would typically spend to meet basic nutritional and other needs, found the minimum wages just met the basic essentials of such a family.

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