[miningmx.com] — MINEWORKERS within the gold and coal sectors could
be in line for additional salary increases this year without the need to amend existing
wage agreements between the Chamber of Mines (CoM) and trade unions.
Following talks on Wednesday with the CoM over the possible re-opening of the
current wage deals – valid until June 2013 – the National Union of Mines’ general
secretary, Frans Baleni, told Miningmx that employers were “uncomfortable’
to re-open talks on a standing agreement.
However, the existing deal does make provision for the re-evaluation of grades,
Baleni said, thereby providing a basis whereby workers’ salaries could be adjusted.
The CoM said in a statement the outcomes of bi-annual negotiations have always been
respected by the various parties and it therefore didn’t want to set a precedent for
future scenarios. However, it said that it was prepared to fast-track the work of a
task team, established in 2011 to investigate matters on job grading.
“This relates to, among other things, the elimination of the lowest wage category and
the inclusion of those employees in the next job grade, which would have the effect of
raising the minimum wage,’ read a statement. “It also relates to the status of
operators, including rock drill operators.’
The next meeting about the issue would take place next week Tuesday.
In August 2011, the CoM and three unions signed a two-year deal offering workers in
the gold sector annual increases of between 7.5% and 10%. For the coal sector, the
agreement made provisions for annual hikes of between 8% and 10.5%.
Baleni on Tuesday said that NUM would have aimed to re-open the existing deal with
wage demands of between R12,500 and R18,000 per month.
It hoped that such a strategy would have brought an end to mineworkers sidestepping
established bargaining structures during the current spate of unprotected strikes.
