[miningmx.com] – TWO of South Africa’s leading gold company CEOs have called upon unions to play their part in rebuilding relations in the industry saying confrontation would damage the long-term viability of the sector.
“There has been too much finger-pointing at times and I would say the relationship with unions has been strained,” said Nick Holland, CEO of Gold Fields. “That’s because there is a new player at the table (Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union). It creates a different dialogue than before,” he added.
“The industry accepts it has made mistakes in the past and it recognises it has to do things differently. But we’re all in this together. Let us chase the same gold,” he said.
Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan (Venkat), CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, said the “circle of trust” had been broken between unions and employers – a development that could defeat efforts to introduce technology that would prolong the life of South Africa’s gold-bearing orebodies.
“What we see is if we don’t protect the orebodies, they will decline. This is where the technology comes in, but it has got to be accompanied by a rebuilding of trust,” Venkat said. “The circle of trust between stakeholders has broken and we are now in a blame game,” he added.
AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields are currently part of central bargaining on wage increases with unions including AMCU and the National Union of Mineworkers. The discussions have been moved to arbitration under the auspices of the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) with the sides differing hugely on wage increases for the sector.
In comments to the group’s second quarter results, Venkat said “… it was difficult to
contemplate wage increases of any kind in the current round of wage talks. However, the company through the Chamber of Mines had offered a 5% increase “… as a sign of good faith in the current wage negotiations”. Labour costs represent between 50% and 60% of total gold mining costs.
“We can’t keep paying above inflation wage increases, we all know it,” said Holland. “I think perhaps a solution is to agree to a basic increase and then look at ways we can pay more that aligns workers to company profitability. Let’s get aligned, but I think it’s something each company must do on its own,” he said.
