Johannesburg - Platinum producers and the Minister of Mineral Resources, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, will hold another round of talks today in an attempt to end the strike in the platinum belt.
They are expected to consider the latest proposal from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) following their meeting with Ramatlhodi yesterday.
“The companies – Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum – requested time to consider the proposal, and the meeting will resume tomorrow,” said a statement by Mahlodi Muofhe, a spokesman for Ramatlhodi.
Ramatlhodi held talks with the Amcu leadership on Tuesday, where they put forward their offer to settle.
At the weekend the inter-ministerial task team presented a settlement package of an R800 annual increase in the basic monthly wage for five years.
Amcu members are said to have rejected it because it remained far from the demand for a R12 500 basic wage.
Amcu’s advisers, the Cape Town-based Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC), said the employers had asked for more time to consider the proposal because they no longer agreed on a common approach to the wage talks.
Yesterday, Brian Ashley, a director at the AIDC, said Amcu’s proposal would be kept under wraps until it was presented to its members.
Ashley noted that the gap between the employers and employees remained wide.
“What Amcu put forward is an offer to settle, which means that if the employers say no, the strike will continue.”
Amcu is demanding a R12 500 basic salary for the lowest paid underground employee to be phased in over four years. The union was willing to consider achieving the basic wage demand in five years, said Ashley.
Platinum producers had previously offered R12 500 cash including allowances.
The union is said to have asked for an R1 800 annual increase which would take wages to R12 500 in four years.
Mining houses were tight-lipped about yesterday’s meeting and referred Business Report to the ministry’s statement.
Muofhe said Ramatlhodi, who was appointed as the minister last month, would like to see an immediate end to the strike.
“The minister is not doing nothing but will be at the beck and call of labour and business. This shows how seriously he wants a solution.”
About 70 000 union members have been on strike since January 23.