SIBANYE-Stillwater has asked the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to intervene in another effort to bring a three month strike at its gold mines to a close, according to a report by BusinessLive.
“We have made seven moves in trying to get a settlement. The unions, unfortunately, remain very rigid. What we are also very clear on is that the majority of our employees are actually ready and willing to accept the proposal on the table,” said Neal Froneman, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO at the firm’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday.
“And it’s unfortunate that we have this misalignment between the national leadership of the two unions … and what employees want,” he said.
Sibanye-Stillwater had made a section 150 application at the CCMA on Monday to “… conciliate what the majority of workers want through an independently led process of verification”, Froneman was quoted as having said at the AGM.
“In our view, that is the way to get a responsible outcome instead of resorting to, let’s say, demands that are unsustainable. I believe that and we will certainly honour what comes out of that process, which will start on May 30,” Froneman said of the CCMA process.
The strike has attracted a slew of negative publicity to Sibanye-Stillwater which is due to kick off wage negotiations with unions representing employees at the firm’s platinum group metals assets on June 1.
A Bloomberg News report yesterday said the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU) had agreed to a new five-year wage deal with Anglo American Platinum. Wage talks with Impala Platinum were also thought to be progressing well.
Attention has also been thrown on recent share incentive awards granted to Froneman totalling about R300m. Froneman has said that it was up to the company’s board to defend the firm’s remuneration policy.
