Johnathan Paoli
Precious metals miner Sibanye-Stillwater has secured a five-year wage agreement with unions at the Kroondal operation in the North West.
The agreement included annual wages and employee benefits for both workers under the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) as well as the National Union of Mineworkers (Num).
The wage agreement mirrors the terms and increases reached at the group’s Rustenburg and Marikana operations in 2022, and will see miners, artisans, and officials receive an increase of 6% in each year of the five-year agreement.
Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neil Froneman said that the latest wage agreement at the Kroondal mine is inflation-linked and that the estimated average increase in the total wage bill, including all benefits, is about 6.4% per annum over the five years.
Froneman said the agreement was amicable and secured wage stability in the operations.
The CEO said that this finalisation of the deal provided a slight reprieve for the company, which faced some recent headwinds; including restructuring at some of its shafts, putting thousands of jobs on the line.
This comes after recent remarks by trade union federation Cosatu who expressed their concern that tens of thousands of jobs in the mining sector remain at risk because of the growing failures of Transnet.
COSATU spokesperson and parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks said mining companies are already in the process of laying off workers.
“It’s very real. already about three or four mining companies issued retrenchment notices totaling about 3 500 workers and we see reports that indicate it could be about 55 000.”
Parks said that the country’s transportation utility’s increasing inability at adequate support in light of a deteriorating rail network was among one of the major factors damaging SA’s mining industry.
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