Johannesburg - The Chamber of Mines has called on unions and employers to act professionally and within the law to ensure peaceful wage talks this year, according to an interview broadcast on SAfm on Monday.
“It is going to be very tough for a great many reasons,” Elize Strydom, the senior executive for industrial relations at the Chamber of Mines, told the state broadcaster.
“We also have a new trade union that will be participating in the negotiations, Amcu (Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union), and we will have to be very professional about this.
“We will have to agree up front - all the unions and the companies - to the rules of the game; on how we are going to engage with one another so that we conduct our negotiations in a professional way.”
Strydom again warned that the National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) demands were “incredibly high”.
It has demanded a 60-percent increase for entry-level wages and wants the monthly housing and living-out allowances to be bumped up dramatically.
“That demand is incredibly high, bearing in mind that the entry-level wage in the mining industry is already the highest of all entry-level wages in labour-intensive industries in this country,” said Strydom.
“So, a 60-percent increase is incredibly steep, but we will do our job and go into the negotiations and we will see if we can find common ground.”
She said the NUM had requested a pre-negotiations indaba which the chamber would consider.
“The NUM asked us to meet for a pre-negotiations indaba... we agreed to meet. What we will be talking about, is what the NUM's ideas are around a pre-negotiations indaba.”
This year's wage talks were crucial after countrywide mining unrest last year left dozens of people dead.
“The stakes are incredibly high and it will require all the stakeholders to work collectively to ensure there is peace and stability, that we conduct our wage negotiations in a professional manner, that people respect the law... so that we can come to an outcome mutually beneficial to the company and employees.
“It's absolutely critical... We have to respect the law and operate within the parameters of the law.” - Sapa