The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called off its planned strike at diamond producer De Beers after reaching an agreement on wages in negotiations on Tuesday afternoon.
The union’s 3 350 members at De Beers’ six mines in South Africa were to have downed tools just hours later, from the start of the 9pm night shift.
However, in what the NUM described as an ”unprecedented move”, De Beers raised its wage offer to 10% in the A-band, 9,5% in the B-band and 8,5% in the C-band.
The company believed this was a fair settlement that showed its commitment to its workforce and to a harmonious working relationship, said its negotiator, Wayne Snerdon.
”This is a very good offer — it is an offer we have been looking for at De Beers,” said his NUM counterpart, Peter Bailey.
”We put a demand of 10% and we got it, so there is nothing to complain about,” he said.
”We can only hope that other employers would not be following the same route of testing waters before they come with what we are looking for. For that we will have surprises lined up for them.”
The NUM threatened a strike at De Beers on Thursday after workers rejected an 8% wage increase offer by the company, revised upward from its original offer of 7%. Workers originally demanded an 11% pay hike.
At the time, both the union and the company indicated that they would be open for further discussion.
De Beers said the negotiations that led to Tuesday’s settlement had been agreed to ”a few days ago”. — Sapa