Sibanye-Stillwater to meet unions after gold division workers reject latest pay offer

Kloof Gold Mine

SIBANYE-Stillwater said it had received a letter from four unions representing employees at the firm’s gold operations requesting a meeting ahead of a possible strike.

This was after a mass meeting of union members at the firm’s Driefontein operations, west of Johannesburg in which Sibanye-Stillwater’s latest pay offer was rejected.

“The unions have asked to meet with management and we are trying to schedule a suitable time to engage with them,” said James Wellsted, spokesman for Sibanye-Stillwater.

The request for the meeting was sent by four unions including the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union, the National Union of Mineworkers, UASA and Solidarity which had earlier recommended Sibanye-Stillwater’s last offer.

“Solidarity cannot speak on behalf of other trade unions but will encourage its members to consider the new offer favourably,” Solidarity General Secretary Gideon du Plessis said earlier this month.

Sibanye-Stillwater revised previous offers of increase from R570 to R670 for lowest-paid employees to R800 for each of the three years. Miners, artisans and officials would receive salary increases of 5% for each of the three years in terms of the new offer.

The unions are demanding R1,000 for the same period, NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu told Bloomberg News on Sunday. The start of a strike hasn’t been decided, but will occur after notice is served on Monday, he said.

Wage negotiations between unions have been underway for about seven months.

Sibanye-Stillwater said previously that it had “… revised our offer a number of times since these negotiations began. As we have said we remain committed to a wage agreement that is fair, but also considers the sustainability of our operations”.

Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold division contributed about 6% of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the six months ended June. The company, which rescheduled its year-end results announcement to March 3, derives most of its profits from production of platinum group metals (PGMs).

However, the company said it will not cross subsidise its operations.

In October, Sibanye-Stillwater reported a decline in the average basket price of its PGMs to R42,347/4E per ounce in the September quarter from R54,148/4E oz in the June quarter.

This was partly behind lower group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of R14.9bn. In the June quarter, Sibanye-Stillwater reported record group EBITDA of R20.7bn.