South African Labour Department Director General Rams Ramashia on Monday congratulated the National Union of Mineworkers (Num) and the mining houses for their last-minute deal, which averted what could have been the biggest strike in the mining industry in 16 years.
In a statement Ramashia said that if the parties had failed to find a solution and the strike proceeded, all parties would have lost out.
“Workers would have lost wages, management would have lost profits and government would have lost some revenue,” said Ramashia.
“The way the settlement was reached is an unequivocal vindication of the efficacy of our labour market policies and institutions; the maturation of social dialogue in our country and the commitment of organised labour and captains of industry to finding sustainable solutions to intractable problems” he said continued.
He also challenged other sectors experiencing similar difficulties to engage in dialogue until mutually acceptable solutions are found.
The first mining industry strike in 16 years was called off at the eleventh hour on Sunday, after Num accepted a revised wage offer from employers and agreed to compromise on non-wage elements of the deal.
The Chamber of Mines raised its basic wage offer to 10% for all workers in exchange for Num dropping its insistence that machine operators be placed in a higher job grade.
Workers will receive a basic salary increase of 10% this year from July 1, and a raise, which matches the change in consumer inflation (CPIX) plus one percentage point with a minimum of 7% next year.
In return, mining companies have agreed to study and complete the process of regrading operators by the end of the year and backdate the upgrading to July 1 this year.
Num general secretary Gwede Mantashe and union president Crosby Moni said most of the union’s 100 000 members at the affected mines had voted to accept a revised offer made by the chamber, representing AngloGold, Harmony and Gold Fields. – I-Net Bridge