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‘Angry’ Amcu and NUM members at gold mines reject Sibanye’s final settlement offer

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Sibanye StillwaterBL Premium reports that striking employees at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations on Tuesday rejected the producer’s final settlement offer of R850 each year for three years, saying the “whopping” R300m CEO Neal Froneman earned in 2021 strengthened their resolve to push ahead with their demand for above-inflation wage increases.

The protracted strike action by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) entered its seventh week on Wednesday. Sibanye on Friday said the final settlement offer, which includes an annual increase of R50 in the living-out allowance, would translate to an increase of 7.8% in basic wages in year one, 7.2% in year two and 6.8% in year three. The two unions are demanding an increase of R1,000 a month, which amounts to a 9.8% rise in year one, 8.8% in year two and 8.2% in year three for entry-level workers. They took the final settlement offer to their members for a mandate at the weekend.  Amcu’s Jimmy Gama responded: “Workers can’t go on strike, lose this amount of money in wages, and go back to work with nothing. That’s the position they have taken. They are saying they want a R1,000 increase. They have become very angry after learning that Froneman earned R300m in 2021.” Gama went on to say that mineworkers risked their lives every day and that they deserved a share when the company made profit. “Harmony Gold afforded to give workers a R1,000 increase. Sibanye is bigger than Harmony Gold, so what’s stopping Sibanye from giving us the same increase,” he asked.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)


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