Implats, Amcu sign fiveyear wage deal ensuring ‘stability of operations’

Impala Platinum (Implats), one of the world’s leading producers of platinum group metals (PGMs), said on Tuesday it had signed a five-year pay hike deal with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction (Amcu) which will see workers getting inflationbeating increases under the multiterm agreement.

Implats, which spent R18.8bn in wages and benefits and paid R19.1bn in taxes and royalties in 2021, said the settlement is effective from July 1. The group, which employs more than 50,000 people across its operations, becomes the second miner to ink a wage agreement that promotes labour stability by allowing parties to find common ground without declaring a dispute or embarking on a strike.

Labour strife could throw a spanner in the works of a struggling economy that is dogged by load-shedding and is still trying to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, the July 2021 unrest, and the recent flooding that hit three provinces.

“This agreement secures five years of stability at Implats’ operating entities and has been achieved through a collaborative process typified by mutual respect and consideration and without requiring intervention or mediation by third parties.

The agreement removes substantial uncertainty for our employees and allows a singular focus on the pursuit of safe and sustainable production,” the miner said in a statement.

In May, Anglo American Platinum announced it had entered into a five-year wage agreement with Amcu, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Solidarity, for above-inflation rises for employees.

On Tuesday, Implats — which has mining operations in SA, Zimbabwe and Canada, and is listed on the JSE, with a secondary listing on A2X — said the pay hike deal assures employees of increases to “all major components of remuneration over the next five years including basic salaries, living-out and home-ownership allowances, medical aid and pension fund contributions”.

“The agreement is in line with current mining inflation of 6.5% and considers the reality of sustained inflationary pressures faced by our employees.”

Implats spokesperson Johan Theron told Business Day that the deal will translate to employees pocketing average increases of “6.6% over the fiveyear period”.

Stats SA said last Wednesday the consumer price index (CPI) rose 6.5% in May, breaching the Reserve Bank’s upper target limit of 6%. This is the highest reading since January 2017, when the inflation rate was 6.6%, and well above market expectations of 6.2%.

Amcu national treasurer Jimmy Gama told Business Day that the pay hike deal was a “great achievement” for workers who had to battle with the rising cost of living, which has resulted in food, electricity, fuel and transports expenses shooting through the roof.

He said the lowest-paid workers will receive increases of R1,150 in year one, up to R1,500 in the last year of the deal.

The new strategy by Amcu, the biggest union in the platinum sector, to reach wage agreements amicably “goes with improved maturity and understanding between parties, and being able to put aside negativity and focus on what’s good for company and workers at large”.

Amcu shot into the international spotlight when it replaced the ANC-aligned NUM as the dominant union in the platinum belt, after the Marikana massacre in Rustenburg in 2012 when police shot and killed 34 protesting Lonmin mineworkers who were demanding better wages and living conditions. Another 10 people, including security guards, were killed in the preceding week.