Amplats offers to raise workers' basic pay 7%

Johannesburg - Anglo American Platinum, the top producer of the metal, offered to raise workers’ basic pay by 7% in a deal yet to be ratified by South Africa’s largest union for the industry, a separate labour group said.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) agreed to the offer spanning 2016-18 and will need approval by its members, the UASA union said on Tuesday in an e-mailed bulletin on the negotiations.

The UASA said it has put the offer to its members.

Basic pay will rise by 7% or R1 000, a month, whichever is higher, according to the UASA.

The AMCU, the biggest union at the country’s platinum mines and which began the negotiations seeking pay increases of 475 for the lowest-paid workers, last week said it was close to finalising a new deal with the three largest producers.

The labour group led a five-month strike in 2014, the longest in South African history, which resulted in a wage agreement that ended in June this year.

AMCU spokesperson Manzini Zungu didn’t answer a call seeking comment. Wage negotiations with unions are still ongoing, Mpumi Sithole, a spokesperson for Amplats, said by e-mail.