Pay hike under 15% not acceptable, says mineworkers’ union

THE NATIONAL Union of Mineworkers (NUM) says it will not take anything below 15% in the current gold sector wage talks.

Mining companies will engage with unions on the gold sector talks. The Star understands there won’t be much activity in the platinum sector as most mining companies in that sector have three-year agreements in place.

NUM’s general secretary, William Mabapa, said unions will be negotiating with individual mines instead of at the Chamber of Mines. Mining companies expected to be involved with wage talks include Sibanye Gold and Harmony Gold, among others.

“We have started with the negotiations at South Deep. In terms of the bargaining conference, we have minimum demands that we have been mandated and it depends. But we have settled on 15% on wages,” said Mabapa.

Negotiating with individual companies would enable unions to get good offers for individual companies, he said. “One of the reasons we have not started at Harmony is (that) the company has given us a letter that they will no longer be negotiating under the mineral council … meaning each mining house will have its negotiation.”

Mabapa said negotiations had already started at Gold One and South Deep mines. He said workers would go on strike if necessary. The decision of going on strike will depend on the difference between the demand and the offer. “We will not go on strike when there is a difference of 0.5%, but it’s workers who will determine a strike and we can’t stop them,” said Mabapa.

He said the gold sector mines had made a profit even during the Covid19 pandemic. The large difference in salary between mining bosses and workers was also a problem for NUM.

“They have made profit; they have declared dividends and if you look at the perks of the CEO you will see they have the money. If you look at the salary discrepancy in the mines, it’s just so huge. The same executives don’t make money for workers … it is the workers that make money for workers,” said Mabapa.

The Association of Mine and Construction Workers Union (Amcu) said it was still collecting a mandate from workers regarding the wage negotiations. The union’s president, Joseph Mathunjwa, said the union would not pre-empt what workers would demand. Amcu is a minority union in the gold sector but has a dominance in the platinum sector. “Amcu is a target to the state and to white monopoly capital. There are comrades that will get a mandate. We have proposed a way of how we should get a mandate but because of this virus things are not working properly,” said Mathunjwa.