Union accepts gold wage offer

Johannesburg - Trade union Uasa has accepted the final wage offer made by the Chamber of Mines to employees in the gold sector, the chamber said in a statement on Friday.

The chamber represents gold producers AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG], Gold Fields [JSE:GFI], Rand Uranium, Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR], Evander Gold, Sibanye Gold, and Village Main Reef.

The National Union of Mineworkers however said on Friday that their members would down tools next week, with the strike expected to begin on Tuesday.

"We deserve better than [a] R300 increase... we work hard underground in unbearable temperatures," spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said.

"They [employers] must give us big increases, it is the fruits of our labour, otherwise they must go dance."

Talks between gold producers and the NUM deadlocked when the union rejected a 6% increase in basic wages for category six to eight employees, which also included miners, artisans and officials.

Gold producers offered a basic increase of 6.5% for category four and five employees, including rock drill operators.

In addition, the chamber said accommodation allowances would be increased in accordance with the consumer price index.

The NUM dismissed the tabled offer as "a joke".