Platinum wage talks resume

Published Apr 23, 2014

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Johannesburg - Talks to end the protracted wage strike in the platinum sector resumed on Wednesday at an undisclosed location.

“There is no final offer as yet, parties are still talking,” Amcu chief negotiator Jimmy Gama said in an sms.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union was meeting platinum mining companies in a bid to resolve the wage dispute, now in its third month.

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) and Impala (Implats) have tabled a wage increase offer of between 7.5 percent and 10 percent.

The proposed offer would see the minimum cash remuneration for entry level underground workers rise to R12,500 a month or R150,000 per annum by July 2017.

In terms of the proposal the cost to company for the lowest-paid underground worker would be in excess of R17,500 a month or R210,000 a year by July 2017.

Amcu members at Amplats, Impala, and Lonmin mining operations in Rustenburg in North West and Northam in Limpopo downed tools on January 23 demanding a basic salary of R12,500 per month.

The union rejected wage increase of nine percent.

The companies in turn rejected Amcu's revised demand that the R12,500 could be phased in over four years.

The strike has cost the companies over R14 billion in revenue and workers have lost over R6bn in earnings. - Sapa

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