Gold Fields: Unions militant over boss’s pay rise

GOLD Fields, starting biennial wage talks with workers this month, gave its directors and top executives a 21 percent pay increase last year. The company paid its 20 highest-ranking employees, including chief executive Nick Holland, R176 million in salaries, bonuses, pensions and share awards, the producer said in its annual report published on its website yesterday. Holland, who attracted investor criticism for receiving a R45m pay package in 2012 even as the shares fell, received R28.2m last year, a 13 percent increase on the previous year. “Gold Fields’ remuneration philosophy aims to attract and retain motivated, high-calibre employees, whose interests are aligned with those of our shareholders,” the company said. “In 2014, the average increase for employees was 6.875 percent and that of its senior management 5 percent.” South African inflation averaged 6.1 percent last year. The National Union of Mineworkers, the biggest representative of gold employees, said it might make demands for entry-level basic wages to double. The companies, which include AngloGold Ashanti and Sibanye Gold, have said any pay increases must be linked to productivity improvements. Gold Fields’ share price was down 2.43 percent at R51.32 at the JSE close yesterday. – Bloomberg