Anglo American Platinum’s (Amplats’) wage deal struck with unions this week will place the spotlight on peer Sibanye-Stillwater — where a strike at its gold operations shows little sign of being resolved — experts say.
Amplats signed a five-year wage agreement with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and UASA after five meetings. It is to be implemented from July 1.
Makhosi Nyamela, equity research analyst at FNB Wealth and Investments, said the agreement leaves Sibanye in the spotlight as the biggest employer in the mining sector and indeed the PGM sector. Sibanye operates mainly the labour intensive former Amplats mines at Rustenburg and the Marikana mines from Lonmin.
“If you look at the fact they still have the outstanding issue on the gold mines, it means that when they go into the negotiations, it will be that much harder for them. The fact that peers like Amplats have settled puts Sibanye on the backfoot just like in the gold sector where Goldfields and Harmony settled first.”
Nyamela says in addition to Amplats, Northam signed a five year wage agreement at its Zondereinde mine last year, while Impala Platinum is yet to sign a wage deal with employees.
“Even if there was a strike, Sibanye was going to be the company which will be the most affected because it is the most labour intensive. I do not believe Sibanye will allow the same thing that has happened in gold to happen in platinum. I believe they will do whatever they can to resolve the platinum negotiations quickly.
"I say this because that is where their free cash flow comes mainly from the platinum operations. The gold operations are barely breaking even.”
Amplats' five-year wage agreement will see the lowest paid employees in year one receive a basic salary increase of 7.5% or R1,150 a month, increasing to R1,500 by year five. Supervisors will see basic salary increases of 6% in years one to three and 6.5% in years four and five.
Nyamela said the agreement was a positive step by Amplats. “It is in line with the posture of integrity that Amplats CEO Natascha Viljoen has come to represent so far in dealing with the business. It’s a positive thing.”
Speaking at the signing ceremony on Thursday, Viljoen said: “All of us in this room know that the mining industry and organised labour have a complicated history in SA. Some would say the complication came as a result of not having the right kind of relationships.”
Viljoen said the multiyear agreement would enable the business to remain sustainable through platinum group metal price cycles, while ensuring “that our people are rewarded for their work as we seek to deliver enduring value for all our stakeholders across society”.
All of us in this room know that the mining industry and organised labour have a complicated history in SA. Some would say the complication came as a result of not having the right kind of relationships
— Amplats CEO Natascha Viljoen
The wage agreement increases salary and salary-related allowances, which will hike the total labour cost to the company on average by 6.6 % a year over the five years.
Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa said the unions had worked hard for the “progressive agreement” at Amplats.
“In a year’s time no-one will be earning less than R17,000, at the end of the agreement no worker at Amplats will be earning less than R21,000 as a basic salary.”
Mathunjwa said in terms of the strike at Sibanye the underlying issue was arrogance.
“We have a CEO who does not respect anyone, even himself. He said clearly 'I do have money but I am not going to give these blacks money'. It challenges the government itself. It exposes them to say who is in control, is it a white monopoly or what has [CEO Neal] Froneman done to them in order for him to undermine the government?”
Mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe said this week the department had observed with concern that the industry bargaining system was being dismantled by “some companies who are taking the industry back to the pre-1983 period where workers were treated as just assets. We cannot allow this to happen under our watch.”
Mantashe said the industry must appreciate that it's the workers who convert investments into wealth.
“They deserve to be treated with respect. I therefore appeal to the industry to appreciate that it is the responsibility of all of us to avoid long and acrimonious strike action.”
Froneman told shareholders at the group’s annual meeting this week the company would like nothing more than to settle the dispute but management needed to be mindful that a settlement had to be sustainable.
“We have conducted our own polls, we know the unions have conducted polls and clearly that is one of the mechanisms of getting a resolution in the short term.”
He said on Monday Sibanye had made an application to the CCMA for a section 150 process, where management hoped it could conciliate what the majority of workers want through an independently led process of verification.
“We will be led by commissioners who are independent of both the unions and ourselves and we will certainly honour what comes out of that. We are very sure that our employees want to go back to work, we want them to come back to work.
“We do not need this to be prolonged any further and in our view that is the way to get a responsible outcome instead of resorting to demands that are unsustainable. We will honour what comes out of that process which will start on the 30th of May.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the signing ceremony on Thursday, NUM president Daniel Balepile said the strike at Sibanye’s gold mines, which is in its third month, was painful.
“There is nothing much that we can do. The members voted for the strike. We are engaging even today through the intervention of the CCMA and we hope that under section 150 we can achieve something.”
Striking NUM and Amcu members at Sibanye's gold operations have been camping outside the Union Buildings since Thursday last week in a bid to get President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.