Business Times reports that Sibanye-Stillwater's ageing gold mines face another strike after key unions downed tools last week for higher pay. The company says the wage demand is not sustainable.
At midnight on Wednesday, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association for Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) went on strike at the Beatrix, Kloof and Driefontein mines. Sibanye-Stillwater is also facing legal action from trade union Solidarity, which is not participating in the strike, after the group implemented a lockout of employees. Solidarity says the principle of no work, no pay would then also apply to its members. Sibanye-Stillwater started wage talks with a coalition of unions comprising NUM, Amcu, Solidarity and Uasa 10 months ago. At the beginning of this month Solidarity accepted the group's final offer of a 5% increase. NUM and Amcu have not shifted from their demand for an increase of R1,000 a month, saying the company has benefited from the boom in commodity prices. They want Sibanye-Stillwater to match the three-year wage deal the unions reached with rival Harmony Gold, which will see salaries rise by R1,000 a month. The company on Thursday implemented a lockout affecting all employees in the bargaining unit, and said it would remain in place until the final wage offer has been accepted by the unions that represent the majority of employees. It also said the principle of ‘no work, no pay’ would apply to striking employees and locked-out members of the bargaining units of the coalition unions. Solidarity’s deputy general secretary for mining, agriculture and the chemical industry, Riaan Visser, said the union would approach the labour court on an urgent basis to obtain an interdict against the lockout.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Dineo Faku at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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