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Miningmx reports that Sibanye-Stillwater said on Wednesday that it was unmoved by union threats of a secondary strike at its platinum group metal (PGM) mines and would take “appropriate legal action” if one were to be called.
According to a report the previous day, union leaders gave members at Sibanye’s PGM mines permission to join a strike at the producer’s gold mines, currently in its thirty-sixth day. The company said in a statement on Wednesday: “Sibanye-Stillwater has not yet received notification of any secondary strike at its PGM operations and will take appropriate legal action in the event that this is given. Wage negotiations at the Sibanye-Stillwater SA PGMs operations have not started and are only scheduled to begin in June/July this year as per previous years.” The gold strike is being observed by about 31,000 members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu). The unions are seeking a R1,000 a month increase to entry-level miner pay whereas Sibanye is offering a R700 per month increase, equal to a 6% to 6.8% increase over the three-years of the proposed wage deal. Sibanye claimed there was no support for the strike. “This is evidenced by the very low employee participation in protests at picketing sites and the constant resignation of members from AMCU and the NUM,” it said. The company’s James Wellsted Wellsted added that about 1,000 employees had resigned from either of the two unions, although they were still counted as striking employees as they remained members for 30 days after resignation. Employees who resigned from NUM or AMCU could, however, join another union and be paid as such, he noted.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by David McKay at Miningmx
- Read too, Amcu, NUM to give notice of secondary strike at Sibanye’s platinum operations in support of ongoing gold strike, at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- And also, NUM, Amcu to ramp up Sibanye gold strike with marches, protests, secondary strike and an appeal to Ramaphosa, at Mining Weekly
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page