[miningmx.com] – NORTHAM Platinum is to apply a wage agreement reached between its mining contractor, Murray and Roberts Cementation (MRC), and unions at its Booysendal mine, the company said.
It did not disclose details of the agreement – which has the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) as signatories – but said it was “… in line with other wage agreements in the industry”.
On July 30, Northam said it had agreed a three-year wage deal with employees at its Zondereinde mine in which entry-level underground workers received a 13% increase on basic pay and allowances this year.
Increases of 11.6% and 10.5% were agreed at Zondereinde in the subsequent years. Supervisory employees received a basic increase of 7.5% per year for each of the three years.
On October 13, the NUM agreed with coal mining firms that miners in the lower working categories will receive increases, staggered over a period of time, of between R750 and R1,000 per month in the first year and guaranteed increases of 7.5% in the second.
Ten days earlier, the NUM, Solidarity and UASA agreed wage increases of between 10% and 13% in basic wages for entry level employees in the gold mining sector in each of the three year of the deal.
“This is a good outcome for all stakeholders as it provides certainty and stability going forward which will contribute to consolidating the ramp-up to steady state production at Booysendal which is expected to be achieved this month,” said Paul Dunne, CEO of Northam Platinum in a statement.
“We also recognise the mature and constructive manner in which engagement has been undertaken,’ he said. The MRC agreement, which was also with Solidarity, was for three years, said Northam Platinum.
