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No more money for South African gold mine workers: employers

https://www.chemnet.com   Aug 04,2015 Platts
There is no more money for a bigger offer than the one rejected by the Association of Construction Workers and Mining Union, Elize Strydom, the chief negotiator for the South African gold employers said Monday.

The employers, including Sibanye, Harmony and AngloGold Ashanti, have offered a three-year deal of an increase in entry level pay, without benefits, on Thursday.


AngloGold Ashanti and Sibanye offer Rand 1,000 (about $790) a month extra every year for three years, plus a 6% pay rise every year for artisans and officials.

Harmony, the least cash flush of the employers, is offering a mere Rand 500 a year increase plus 4.6% for artisans and officials.

Entry level pay at the gold mines is around Rand 5,700 a month.

AMCU rejected the offer at a mass meeting at Sibanye's Beatrix Mine, in Welkom 260 km (161 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, on Sunday.

"We will meet with the unions this week to see if we can reshuffle the offer, but my mandate from the employers is clear that there is no more money," Strydom said.

The Chamber of Mines will meet with AMCU on Tuesday and with the National Union of Mineworkers, UASA and Solidarity on Friday at Boksburg, 30 km east of Johannesburg.

The NUM is playing its cards close to its chest, but sources in the unions say it will reject the offer on the grounds that the pay rise has no benefits attached.

It has a mass meeting at Sibanye's Beatrix Mine later Monday and will meet with its members at Driefontein Mine in Careltonville, 60 km west of Johannesburg, on Tuesday.

"We have to get the views of all of our members before we inform the Chamber of Mines of our decision," NUM national spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said Monday.

"I will be honest with you this was rejected because of the Harmony offer, that is what our members objected to. You cannot have an offer of Rand 500 when the rest are getting 1,000. Who is going to accept that?" ACMU spokesman Manzini Zungu said.
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