[miningmx.com] – THE five month long strike in South Africa’s platinum sector will come to an end on June 24 after members of the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU) urged union president Joseph Mathunjwa to sign a deal.
According to Sapa, Mathunjwa said at a mass rally today: “We are signing the agreement tomorrow. That means the strike has come to an end officially’.
“Platinum will never be the same again . What other unions could not do in more than 20 years, you could do in five months,’ he said at another rally earlier in the day.
Details of the final agreement were sketchy given that additional demands amounting to extra costs of R1bn were made by AMCU last week after having first signed an in-principle agreement with platinum producers, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Impala Platinum (Implats) and Lonmin.
However, Sapa cited Mathunjwa saying that entry-level workers would receive a minimum R1,000 per month which was the keystone of the in-principle agreement.
Sapa also said the agreement would be backdated to July for workers at Amplats and Implats and to October for Lonmin members.
In terms of labour law, the platinum companies are not required to pay the backdated agreement for the months the strike, which started on January 22, was underway.
Said Mathunjwa today: “In 2012, we asked for R12 500 and people died . and left us with a challenge [to keep fighting]”.
