BL Premium reports that the two striking unions at Sibanye-Stillwater's gold operations are expected to brief their members at the Union Buildings on Friday on progress made in trying to hammer out a pay hike deal.
The unions and the mining bosses have been meeting under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) since last Thursday to try and resolve the industrial action, which resulted in Sibanye’s gold operations grinding to a halt in March and striking workers losing more than R1.2bn in wages. Following yet another meeting on Wednesday, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) president Dan Baipile said: “We have just concluded our meeting with Sibanye management, under the auspices of the CCMA. We are not going to divulge anything for now, we are going to be meeting our members on Friday to share the information with them. That’s as far as we can go.” On Thursday, Sibanye’s James Wellsted said he was not able to give information on any figures discussed during the meetings, but added: “Engagements have been very constructive. We have not made any formal offer and the unions have not changed in their demands.” Some of the striking workers have been camping outside the Union Buildings for more than a week, calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa's intervention in the wage impasse. Sibanye’s gold operations employ 31,000 workers of which 25,000 are jointly represented by Amcu and NUM.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Read too, ‘We are hungry and being on strike is painful’, at SowetanLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page