[miningmx.com] – EFFORTS to end a two-week strike over wages in South Africa’s platinum industry ended in failure today as producers and the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU) adjourned negotiations with no date set for a resumption.
Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), and Impala Platinum (Implats) said revenue losses were at R2bn to date and estimated that the loss to the South African economy was about R4bn.
Perhaps most importantly, workers had forfeitted R900m in wages with the companies saying that a prolonged strike would only end in further sectoral restructuring. Before the strike, some 45% of South African platinum production was unprofitable.
“Prolonged strike action will result in more losses, and a further restructuring of the platinum sector,” the producers said in a statement.
Speaking to the Cape Town Press Club today, AMCU president, Joseph Mathunjwa simply said the strike would continue. He also complained that AMCU members were being subjected to harassment and attacks. “The mining sector has remained unpredictable as workers continue to die,” he told BDLive.
Platinum producers have offered a three-year offer in which annual increases range between 7% and 9% depending on the employee level. The largest increases are for the first year of the deal.
“While an expeditious resolution would be in the best interests of all parties, it remains imperative that we continue to pursue a settlement that is affordable, achievable and sustainable,” the companies said in a joint statement.
“Acceding to AMCU’s demands – which have not shifted since negotiations began – is simply not feasible, and would effectively mean a doubling of the industry’s wage bill,’ producers said
AMCU’s determination to stick to its R12,500/month basic salary demand is evocative of the National Union of Mineworkers’ (NUM’s) reluctance to enter into wage negotiations for at least half of the 11-week strike at Northam Platinum, among the longest in the platinum industry.
“Finally, negotiation can only take place if both parties actively engage with one another and seek to make compromises,” said the producers. The current minimum wage in the sector is about R4,500/month.
