Platinum sector seals pay deal

● The world’s largest platinum producers have sealed a pay agreement with the sector’s biggest labour union in SA, concluding negotiations that started in July and putting workers’ remuneration on the back burner for the next three years.

The agreement between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Impala Platinum (Implats) and Sibanye Gold amounts to more than R5.7bn over the course of the three-year agreement, Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said on Friday.

The deal gives the companies “breathing space”, according to Peter Major, an analyst at Mergence Corporate Solutions. “This really sets a precedent and shows we are moving into a new era in the mining industry,” he said.

“This is the most professional negotiation we’ve ever had these past 25 years.”

Besides giving the companies greater scope to capitalise on a rally in prices and ensure operational stability, the deal will also calm investor anxiety about a repeat of the crippling industry strike that Amcu led in 2014.

Platinum group metals are one of the country’s biggest exports and the settlement could boost President Cyril Ramaphosa’s efforts to reboot a stagnating economy and revitalise the mining industry.

It also paves the way for Sibanye and Implats to resume dividend payments.

Amplats, the most profitable of the producers, will give its workers R1,000 in cash in July next year and R1,500 in July 2021.

Basic pay for workers at Sibanye will rise to as much as R14,700 in the third year, from about R12,500 now.

Implats did not disclose further details of the wage agreement.

“It was not an easy journey to engage with these bosses,” said Mathunjwa, who signed the documents on behalf of the union as its members sang and chanted.