Johannesburg - South African union Uasa said while gold producers tabled a “good opening offer” in pay negotiations last week, it still needs work.
Labour groups will meet on Monday with the Chamber of Mines, which represents AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, Harmony Gold Mining Company and Sibanye Gold Ltd, after consulting with their members on the initial proposal, Franz Stehring, head of mining at Uasa, said by phone on Monday. The producers offered wage increases of as much as 13 percent, plus a share of profits.
The proposed five-year deal is “too long”, said Stehring, adding that virtually unchanged housing allowances and increases not linked to inflation were also issues. The centralised negotiations in Johannesburg with producers also include the National Union of Mineworkers, which represents most gold miners and is demanding an 80-percent increase in basic pay.
“The answer to the chamber from our side will be ‘go back and redo your figures’,” said Stehring, whose Uasa comprises about 7 percent of the 95 000 employees involved compared with 52 percent for the NUM.
The companies have guaranteed employment if their profit margin at operating-unit level, after the allocation of all costs, doesn’t fall below a margin of 6 percent.
The offer by producers is unprecedented from previous wage negotiations by starting with “a guarantee in terms of job retention”, Dawie Mostert, a senior vice president at Sibanye, said at a presentation on Thursday. “The essence of what we’re trying to do here is job retention on the back of a sustainable industry.”
Bloomberg