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Sunday Times Business Times reports that, with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) wage strike at Sibanye-Stillwater’s local gold mines strike is in its fifth month, Shadwick Bessit, executive vice-president at Sibanye, indicated that the dispute was now not about wage increases but about a return to work settlement.
The company’s version is that Amcu had agreed on a R4,500 payment and then reneged. But, Amcu has accused Sibanye of removing the R4,500 offer from the negotiation table. Bessit said: "Due to the fact that the longer the strike takes, the more the costs accumulate with respect to the payment in kind, which is the payment the company makes on employees' behalf towards accommodation and food … thus reducing the amount available for the ex gratia payment. This means the ex gratia payment that was put on the table in February decreased to R2,500 in March and has now gone down to zero." Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa told workers at a mass meeting on Friday that the union was urging the company to put the R4,500 offer back on the table. Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman "has the power to end the strike. We are saying to Froneman, it is up to you to end the strike," Mathunjwa told workers. He added that Froneman had told investors that the strike would end on Friday. But Amcu has not suspended the strike. The union is demanding an increase of R1,000 a month over each of the next three years. But, Sibanye’s contention is that an agreement has been signed by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and Uasa for an increase of R700 a month for each of the next three years and no further increases would be considered.
- Read more of Ntando Thukwana’s Sunday Times Business Times report on the above at SA Labour News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page