[miningmx.com] – ON a day in which the latest round of wage talks between the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU) and South Africa’s three largest platinum producers failed, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has unveiled share awards to executives worth tens of millions of rands.
The Anglo American subsidiary said in an announcement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange that it had awarded just over R4m to its CEO, Chris Griffith, in terms of the company’s bonus share plan, and a further R11m if performance targets are met over three years in terms of the long-term incentive plan.
A cursory look at the various awards, made to a number of directors, shows a bonus share plan worth a combined R25m to directors that also includes finance director, Bongani Nqwababa, and some R50m in terms of the long-term incentive plan.
Share awards of this ilk are nothing new and are carefully benchmarked by the remuneration committees of listed mining companies against local and international peers. However, the timing of the announcement, which is subject to regulations rather than political smarts, is grist to the mill for Joseph Mathunjwa, president of AMCU, who today pilloried platinum producers, describing them as “a cabal”.
“We call on the platinum cabal to be patriotic,” Mathunjwa was quoted by newswire services Sapa and Reuters to have said today after the failure of wage talks in which AMCU is pressing for a R12,500 per month basic salary for all entry-level workers.
“Only an honourable settlement can resolve the strike,” said Mathunjwa who added: “Our members have rejected the offer”.
South African president Jacob Zuma weighed in on the debate saying less than two days before national elections that AMCU could not strike forever, and that the industrial action, now in its 15th week, was hurting workers.
Mathunjwa said however: “The AMCU strike is protected. No one should put pressure on us… We appeal to progressive forces to put pressure on the employer to accept this demand.” As AMCU is not part of the Congress of South African Trade Unions the ability of the government to pressurise the union would appear to be limited.
Lonmin, Impala Platinum, and Amplats confirmed today that wage talks had failed after offering on April 17 a basic R12,500 per month cash remuneration offer for entry-level underground employees by 2017.
In a joint announcement, the platinum producers said that AMCU had also failed to suggest an alternative to breaking the strike which is estimated to have cost workers some R7.3bn in lost wages, whilst producers have forgone R16.3bn in revenue.
All three companies are seeking a return to work at affected operations by appealing direct to employees. They added, however, that many were prevented from returning to work owing to high levels of intimidation.
“Regrettably, the companies have received feedback from a large number of employees that while they would prefer to accept the offer and return to work, many are fearful of doing so due to the threats to their personal safety,” the companies said.
“The respective company security teams have documented dozens of incidents of threats of personal harm by faceless individuals, or by strike leaders from AMCU meeting platforms, aimed at groups or individuals who are at work, or who might be contemplating a return to work.
“There have been numerous assaults perpetrated on employees at work or on their way to or from work. While criminal cases have been opened, unfortunately there have been only a limited number of arrests”.
