South African Platinum Union Says Workers May Back Pay Offer
South African Platinum Union Says Workers May Back Wage Offers
South Africa’s largest platinum mining labor union said it may conclude a wage deal with producers as early as next week if “minor” outstanding issues can be resolved.
Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union may accept revised offers from Anglo American Platinum Ltd., Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., and Sibanye Gold Ltd., Jimmy Gama, the union’s chief negotiator and treasurer, said on Thursday. Settling the wage dispute without disruption could pave the way for Sibanye and Implats to resume paying dividends.
“There is a prospect for general acceptance from those workers we have met so far,” Gama said. “We will have a clearer picture next week after we have met the companies.”
Gama declined to say what issues remained to be resolved. The largest platinum miners sought state-sponsored mediation last month in a bid to break an impasse in negotiations that started in June. AMCU led the nation’s longest-ever platinum-mine strike in 2014.
Workers at Sibanye’s Marikana platinum mines backed the company’s latest wage offer, according to a Twitter post by AMCU. Further meetings at Sibanye are planned on Thursday, Gama said.
Implats said Tuesday that it had raised its wage offer to workers in a bid to break the deadlock. The company said it offered to boost minimum basic monthly pay by 1,100 rand ($75) over each of the next three years, compared with AMCU’s demand for a 1,500 rand increase.
Investors will remain cautious about the prospects for concluding the three-year pay deal after AMCU led a five-month strike over wages at Sibanye’s gold mines earlier this year. The terms of the settlement agreed in April were little changed from those earlier rejected by the labor union.
Above-inflation wage settlements and rising electricity costs “pose the greatest risk” to the profitability of South Africa’s platinum miners, RMB Morgan Stanley analysts, including Christopher Nicholson, said in a note on Wednesday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Felix Njini in Johannesburg at fnjini@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Dylan Griffiths, Nicholas Larkin
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