David McKay reports that discussions regarding how wage talks will be held in SA’s coal industry remain deadlocked, raising the risk that unions might embark on a national strike.  

Motsamai Motlhamme, head of employment relations at the Chamber of Mines (COM), said there had been no movement from the position last month in which the Chamber rejected recommendations by the CCMA that wage talks be centralised for another year.  The COM’s coal members, which include Glencore, Anglo American, Exxaro Resources, Kangra Coal and Delmas Colleries, decided on 10 February to decentralise wage negotiations so that companies could discuss wages on mine-by-mine basis – a development that unions flatly rejected.  

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) called a dispute with the COM, which led to arbitration hearings under the auspices of the CCMA.  The union had earlier threatened to call a strike of all members working in the coal sector.  Gideon du Plessis of Solidarity said the likelihood of a strike occurring in the coal sector had increased, but he hoped “sanity would prevail”.  The coal companies are scheduled to begin fresh wage discussions later this year as the previous two-year wage COM agreement of 2015 expires on 30 June.

• Read this report in full at Miningmx

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