JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South African coal companies had made an increased wage offer on Monday, labour unions Solidarity and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) confirmed on Tuesday.

Solidarity spokesperson Ilze Nieuwoudt said that the union could not immediately provide details of the improved offer from coal companies, as the unions were still waiting for a written response in this regard from the Chamber of Mines (CoM).

This was expected to be provided later on Tuesday, after which the unions would take the offer to their members.

Nieuwoudt noted that the parties would likely meet again on July 28.

Agreement had not yet been reached on a number of other issues that formed part of the negotiations, said Nieuwoudt.

NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said that it would wait until it received a written offer from the CoM before commenting on the matter of any outstanding issues.

The CoM was not immediately available to comment on the matter.

In the previous round of the negotiations, held on July 8, Solidarity and the CoM had said that the parties were close to reaching a settlement, but the NUM had not been impressed with the offer made by collieries.

At the time, the collieries, except for the Optimum and Siyanda collieries, had increased their wage offer to 8,5% for miners, artisans and officials and to 9,5% for lower category workers for the first year of the wage agreement.

On June 18, the CoM had offered an 8% wage increase for mineworkers, artisans and officials and a 9% increase for lower category workers for the first year of a new wage agreement.

It has also been proposed that the second year increase, effective from July 1, 2010, should be based on the consumer price index plus 1%, with a guaranteed 6% minimum increase.

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