[miningmx.com] – GOVERNMENT-supported negotiations to bring an end to the 20-week strike over wages in South Africa’s platinum sector have failed leaving producers to seek “further options available to them”.
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Impala Platinum (Implats) and Lonmin announced jointly that the Inter-Governmental Technical Task Team had “… been dissolved without an outcome”.
This followed a meeting today, described by as “high level”, and included leaders from the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU), the union that first called the strike on January 23 as it sought a R12,500 per month basic pay for entry-level miners.
“During this process the producers have sought to arrive at a fair and sustainable settlement that would preserve the future of the platinum industry and limit job losses in the country,” the producers said in a statement.
“While the producers remain committed to a negotiated settlement, they will now review further options available to them,” they said. The task team consisted of the mineral resources and labour departments and the National Treasury.
The failure to broker an agreement is not entirely a surprise given ANC general-secretary Gwede Mantashe’s warning over the weekend that mines minister, Ngoako Ramatlhodi exercise caution given the highly political nature of the strike.
However, the dissolution of the task team still feels like a hammer blow. Although perhaps partially motivated by political reasons as it propelled newly appointed Ramatlhodi to the front-line of the mining sector, the task team also brought purpose and momentum to wage talks after the producers and AMCU appeared to have run out of options.
Now, given the Labour Court’s failure earlier this month to mediate an agreement, there is a sense that a fatal blow has been delivered to wage negotiations through arbitration. It remains to be seen now what the platinum producers will do to bring their Rustenburg mines back to production.
Ramatlhodi has called a press briefing for 9.30am on June 10.
To date, the producers have forfeited earnings of R21.7bn, while employees have forfeited wages of around R9.6bn.
