Johannesburg - Signs of an end to the five-month platinum belt emerged yesterday, when thousands of employees agreed in principle to accept the employers latest revised offer during mass meetings held at stadiums in Rustenburg.
The union, which began the strike that paralysed production at the world’s three largest platinum companies – Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Impala Platinum (Implats) and Lonmin – has agreed to the employers’ plan.
Stick-wielding Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) members clad in union T-shirts at Implats, Lonmin and Amplats gave Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa a mandate to accept the offer on condition that it was tweaked. More than 70 000 Amcu members have been on a strike over R12 500 pay demand since January 23.
The companies say workers have missed out on R9.9 billion in wages and that they have lost R22.2bn in revenue.
With the first glimmer of hope that the impasse has been broken, shares in Lonmin – the smallest of the big three platinum firms and the one under the most pressure, jumped 7.9 percent. Impala stock climbed 1.5 percent but gave up those gains to close flat on the day. Amplats ended 1.68 percent lower. The rand, which has been hurt by the loss of foreign currency mine revenue, rallied slightly.
At Amplats thousands of stick-wielding miners cheered as a senior union official took the microphone to declare: “Sign, Mathunjwa, sign.”
Moments before the rally started, the three platinum firms said they had reached “in principle undertakings” with the leaders of the strike.
“The principles that underpin the proposals seek to achieve a sustainable future for the three platinum companies for the benefit of all stakeholders and to afford employees the best possible increase under the current financial circumstances,” Lonmin said.
The three companies did not disclose the details of the offer in statements to the stock exchanges in Johannesburg and London.
The offer amounts to a pay hike of almost 20 percent, but it is only a fraction of the roughly 150 percent mineworkers were demanding when they first downed tools in January.
At Wonderkop stadium Jimmy Gama, the national treasurer of Amcu, read out Lonmin’s latest revised offer to about 5 000 Lonmin employees before calling a representative from each branch to make a recommendation.
Lonmin offered to raise the basic wage by R1 000 over three years for employees in bands A to B until a R12 500 basic salary is reached. Adjustments for all employees will be 8 percent in the first year, and for artisans and miners 7.5 percent in the second and third year.
Amcu wants the company to do away with employee share ownership schemes and instead allocate shares to employees so that they can receive annual dividends.
In the previous Labour Court facilitated negotiations, employers had offered a R800 increase.
Mathunjwa said that the latest revised offer came after he had rung chief executives to ask that they return to the negotiation table. “I told them that they have a R800 increase, which our members have rejected, and we are leading the strike. If they have anything better to offer, they must come to the negotiation table.”
Early this week Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi withdrew from two weeks of talks to end the dispute.
Mathunjwa blamed ANC leaders, including secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande and Cyril Ramaphosa for the abrupt end to the talks.
He said the strike would continue until the amendments were made.
“It was getting to the point where there was very limited visibility after the minister left the process so this is coming as a surprise,” Tyler Broda, a London-based mining analyst at Nomura International, said.
“That’s what the equities and the metal prices are showing at the moment.”