[miningmx.com] — MOST Lonmin workers would not be that much better
off than they were before the six-week strike that came to an end on Wednesday.
Although Lonmin announced on Tuesday that workers would get wage increases of
between 11% and 22%, these included a 10% increase that had already been
negotiated and would in any case have come into effect in October.
If one analyses the increases, it looks as if most workers are less than 3% better off
than they were before the strike. In addition, 9,000 of the approximately 37,000
workers at the mine wouldn’t receive an increase because they are contract workers.
Cosatu on Wednesday welcomed the settlement despite the fact the deal was
negotiated by workers who rebelled against its affiliate, the National Union of
Mineworkers (NUM).
“We hope that other mining companies will quickly make offers similar to the 22%
increase reportedly agreed between Lonmin and the unions and workers’
representatives and thus avoid any repetition of the events at Marikana,’ the
confederation said in a statement. Cosatu further called on workers to return to NUM
and to repeat its demands for a central bargaining council in the platinum sector.
Trade union Solidarity also issued a statement in which it warned about this
precedent.
As for the R2,000 bonus granted as part of the settlement, that was agreed on
condition that all workers must return to work on Thursday and would not be paid if
there were still substantial absentees. It would also only be paid next month.
Still, NUM said that large numbers of workers who did not actively participate in the
strike have returned to their home towns and are thus unlikely to be able to return in
a single day.
“It must be expected that there will be cases here and there of people who have left
the area. We will deal with these cases as they arise,’ said Lonmin spokesperson
Abey Kgotle.
According to Lonmin, the average increase of between 11% and 22% is for the eight
lower job grades, but this included the increase from 9% to 10% that unions
negotiated for workers last year and which in any case would come into effect in
October.
The 22% refers to rock drill operators, but it includes the “drilling allowance’ of R750
that was in fact already offered before the strike and which, according to unions, was
one of the causes of the strike.
The additional increase that rock drill operators are receiving as a result of the strike
appears to be not much more than 3%, which gives them a total package of R11,073
per month, half of which constitutes the basic wage.
Entry-level workers are the big winners in the settlement, because their job grade has
been increased by one level from the lowest rank according to the Paterson grading
system. Entry-level workers who cost Lonmin R8,164 per month before the strike will
now cost it R9,611 – an increase of 17.7%, of which 10% was already guaranteed
before the strike. The strike therefore seems to have brought them 7.7%.
For other workers, the existing agreement has been adjusted by about 2%.
– Sake24
