The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is poised to throw down the gauntlet to the gold mining industry, preparing to demand wage increases of nearly 60% for the lowest-paid miners.
Trade unions and the industry are due to hammer out a new three-year wage deal later in 2021, with workers seeking a share of bumper profits. The sector rode on the back of higher bullion prices, which reached a record in 2020, even as it suffered output disruptions due to the pandemic.
On Wednesday, NUM acting general secretary William Mabapa said the union would demand a minimum wage of R15,000. That would hike wages for the lowest-paid workers, who take home R9,500, by 58% — many times the consumer inflation rate of about 3%.
For the rest of the workers, Mabapa told a news conference that the union would seek between 15% and 20%, saying the demands would be reasonable because the industry was raking in super profits and the salary scale would be in line with what workers at Eskom and De Beers are now earning.
If the demands are not met, Mabapa said workers would down tools in intermittent strikes — potentially a sign that miners might not shoulder the effect of completely forfeiting their salaries.
“This time we will not just be going on [a full-blown] strike. We will work for a week, and let the employees work another week until we sign an agreement,” said Mabapa.
Unions have a history of demanding double-digit wage increases but settling for much less. In 2018, NUM demanded almost 40% increments for entry-level workers before accepting an effective 12% hike.
SA’s gold mining industry is dominated by Harmony Gold and Sibanye-Stillwater after Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti offloaded their local operations to focus on shafts overseas, where costs are lower.
The Minerals Council SA, an industry body that warned in 2020 that pandemic-induced restrictions would wipe out R100bn in revenues, referred questions to mining companies.
Gold Fields vice-president for corporate affairs Sven Lunsche said that given the mechanised and automated nature of the company’s only SA mine, South Deep, it will negotiate wages at a company level and not under the auspices of the Minerals Council SA.
“We are hoping to commence negotiations in the next 10 days and are in the process of agreeing terms of engagement with organised labour,” Lunsche said.
The NUM’s demands include a R5,000 housing allowance, a R500 callout fee, a R150 meal allowance, a funeral benefit of R60,000 and a severance package of R150,000
The union is also demanding long-service awards of R10,000 for five years, R20,000 for 10 years and R30,000 for 15 years.
Mabapa said the salary gap between management and workers was “too wide”. He called for salary scales to differ by at least 10% as that would help achieve fairness because “for now there is no fairness”
Mining is one of the key sectors of the economy, employing about 455,000 people and contributing roughly 9% to GDP.
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