The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Impala Platinum’s (Implats) Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine (BRPM) say the new one-year wage agreement signed between the parties this week will go a long way in ensuring job security in the sector.
NUM and BRPM signed the wage agreement, which includes a 7% salary increase, 7% increase in housing allowance and living-out allowance, and a 4,5% increase in medical aid. The new agreement will be for 12 months from July 1, 2024, until June 30, 2025.
Both said the signing of the deal would give the parties an opportunity to save jobs amid massive retrenchments in the mining sector and open the door for a round of fresh negotiations next year looking at the possibility of a multi-year wage agreement.
NUM acting general secretary Mpho Phakedi said the new agreement provided an opportunity for a cooling-off period until both could agree on a once-off long-term agreement.
“The intention was to get a cooling-off period for one year until we can settle our differences with a multi-year agreement.
“During this time in the mining sector, companies are pleading poverty. They are saying they are going through a difficult time. They say they are facing severe economic issues. So, we decided to agree on a temporary solution that will work for both of us.
“We get to save jobs of employees, and the company gets to stay afloat. Our employees are comfortable with this agreement. After this agreement has expired, we will enter into new negotiations with the company to agree on a multi-year agreement,” said Phakedi.
Implats spokesperson Johan Theron said reaching this agreement with NUM had not been easy. He said both parties had to make certain compromises to reach the agreement.
“This agreement will ensure one year of labour peace and security.
“This is a difficult time in the mining sector as there are retrenchments and jobs are at risk.
“We just completed a labour restructuring process whereby certain jobs were reduced.
“There are also serious financial challenges that we are dealing with.
“This new wage agreement will allow workers to have salaries that remain relevant to the high inflation rate and give them a stronger buying power,” said Theron.
The mining sector has been the subject of a raft of retrenchments and a jobs bloodbath in the past few years.
In April the Sibanye-Stillwater Group declared its intention to retrench more than 4 000 employees. This comes after the company retrenched over 2 493 workers between March 2023 and February this year.
In December last year, Sibanye concluded a retrenchment process that saw the company’s gold operations, Kloof 4 in Westonaria, southwest of Johannesburg, part ways with 1 473 workers.
In March 2023, it retrenched 168 employees at its Beatrix 4 shaft and Kloof 1 plant.
