BL Premium reports that the two unions striking at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations will meet management on Tuesday to table their consolidated response to the producer’s final settlement offer of a R850 wage hike each year for three years for the lowest-paid employees.
In addition, workers would get a R50 increase in the living-out allowance each year, while so-called ‘artisans, miners and officials’ would get a 5% annual increase for the duration of the multi-term agreement. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have been on strike at Sibanye since 9 March in support of their demand for above-inflation wage increases. Striking employees, who have been locked out since 10 March, have lost about R990m in wages. In a statement, Sibanye said the final settlement offer would translate to increases of 7.8% in basic wages in year one, 7.2% in year two and 6.8% in year three. The revised offer, however, still falls short of demands tabled by the NUM and Amcu. NUM general secretary William Mabapa said on Sunday that the two unions were holding mass meetings in an effort to get a mandate from their membership on Sibanye’s final settlement offer. “The last mass meeting will be held at the Beatrix mine in Free State. We will then meet the mine management on Tuesday to table our consolidated response to their latest offer,” Mabapa indicated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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