Miningmx reports that Sibanye-Stillwater could provide unions with “a back door” in order to end the strike at the producer’s gold mines which will have run for 10 weeks on Thursday.
“They need to find a back door to step out of. We will help them, but it’s not about increasing the number,” said CEO Neal Froneman of Sibanye’s last offer of a R850 per month increase for entry level employees. In the past, mining companies have offered unions an ex-gratia payment or restructuring of the agreement such that union demands were met in its final year. There was also the option of constructing a longer pay agreement term such as five years. Froneman said of wage negotiations: “You shouldn’t go into a strike unless you are absolutely sure that you are not going to infringe on the rights of your members. It’s incumbent on the unions to find a solution to their own problems. We will help them but it’s not about raising the number.” He added that the company was not under pressure to conclude a deal with unions at its gold mines as it could survive a strike “for years and years”. According to Froneman, employees had been back-paid their salaries to end-March despite the no work no pay rule, but employee cash funds were depleting. “My executive feels that we are doing the wrong thing because by paying back pay you provide striking workers to go on longer. But that is not the point. We have done a poll and about 85% of our employees accept this wage offer,” Froneman stated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by David McKay at Miningmx
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