Coal strike looms as NUM spurns wage offer

Cape Town - Tension within the mining industry was ratcheted up on Wednesday when the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) rejected as “insulting” the latest wage offer for the coal sector.

The union also complained that the Chamber of Mines is “negotiating in bad faith” by allegedly trying to “sneak in” a three-year deal instead of the agreed two-year agreement.

The chamber has offered between 5% and 6.5% to miners whose basic wage at the lowest level is little more than R5 000. “We are not talking percentages,” said NUM chief negotiator Peter Bailey. “We want a R3 000 increase across the board which would bring the lowest paid workers up to R8 000 a month.”

What the union demand would also do is to close the wage gap that exists between various grades working in the coalfields. However, with the recent slide in commodity prices - including coal - and problems with supplies to and prices from Eskom, the producers claim they cannot afford more than their “final offer”.

As a result, the unions have not ruled out the possibility of strike action.