STAFF REPORTER|
THE National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU) signed a 3-year wage agreement with Sibanye-Stillwater on Saturday.
The wage agreement, signed late early hours of Saturday, ends a three month strike first called by the two unions on March 8.
The agreement had been preceded by around eight months of negotiations that started in June 2021.
Sibanye, which also mines platinum group metals in South Africa and the United States, had said on Friday that certain terms in the draft agreement had not been agreed by the parties and as a result they were not allowed to return to work.
Sibanye had locked out its employees from its gold operations since the time the strike began in early March.
“The wage agreement, signed late early hours of Saturday morning, ends a three month strike first called by the NUM and AMCU on March 8,” NUM said in a statement.
“The duration of this Agreement shall be for a period of three years from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2024 and shall remain in force and effect until amended or replaced by a new agreement.”
NUM said members at Sibanye-Stillwater are excited that the wage agreement was concluded without any violence, intimidation and loss of life.
NUM said the 2022 wage negotiations, the longest in the history of the trade union, were very tough as a result the negotiations took more than a year to be concluded.
“The NUM wishes to express its sincere gratitude to its members at Sibanye-Stillwater for the manner in which they behaved during the negotiation period until they gave us the mandate to sign this wage agreement. Our members are excited and they gave us the mandate to sign a wage agreement,” said William Mabapa, NUM General Secretary.
“The pressure that the NUM and AMCU exerted on Sibanye Stillwater through the rolling mass actions and strike to force the company and the to sign the wage agreement has yielded good results for our members,” Mabapa added.
The agreement is as follows:
The company shall pay all employees a once-off Hardship allowance of R3000 to be allocated as stipulated below.
• . The Company shall pay employees a once off Hardship allowance of R1 200. The Company shall deduct the value of R1 800 from any amount owed byvthe employees to the Company, including but not limited tovother payments made on behalf of employees to Third Parties.
• . In the event that the employee does not owe any money to the Company in terms of clause 6.2 of the wage agreement, the employee will receive the full R3000 as a Hardship Allowance.
• . In the event that the employee owes the Company less than R1800 in terms of clause 6.2 of the wage agreement, the money owed will be settled and the remainder of the R1800 will be paid to the employee.
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