JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) was preparing to meet with its members to formulate its wage demands ahead of the gold industry wage talks in May.
With the 2013 two-year wage agreement set to expire in June, AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa said the union would host a gold collective bargaining conference at the end of March to obtain – and then consolidate into a uniform list – the grievances and demands of the AMCU-linked gold miners.
However, Mathunjwa could not be drawn into providing a ballpark target for this year’s wage demands as it did with the platinum sector last year, explaining to media at a briefing in Sandton on Thursday that the union preferred to wait for, and be directed by, its members’ mandate, which it would obtain within a week of the conference.
In 2014, AMCU led an unprecedented five-month strike at major platinum producers, demanding a minimum wage of R12 500 a month.
Currently, the lowest paid entry-level underground gold mine worker earned a basic cash wage of around R5 700 a month, which, according to industry website Gold Wage Negotiations For the Gold Industry, was often augmented by agreed cash and other noncash benefits, including housing, food and medical benefits, as well as profit share, bonuses and overtime pay.
AMCU represents about 25% of the 100 000-odd workers in the gold sector – a number Mathunjwa said was much higher – while the National Union of Mineworkers, which was also planning to submit its consolidated demands to gold mining companies by the end of March, represented about 57% of the workforce.
Earlier this month, NUM reported that it would seek increases of up to 100% for its lowest paid workers in the gold, coal and diamond sectors.