Implats group executive Johan Theron
Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Subsidiary operating companies of platinum-mining major Implats – the large Rustenburg operations of Impala Platinum and the smaller Marula Platinum – have signed three-year wage settlements with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).
Over the next three years and backdated to July 1, the employees of both operations will receive a basic salary increase of R1 000 a month for A- and B-level staff and 7% for C-level employees within the bargaining unit.
Living-out and home-ownership allowances have been increased by R150 a month for each year of the three-year agreement for Rustenburg employees and by R150 a month for the second and third years in the case of Marula employees.
Also agreed is an increase in Implats’ medical aid contributions of 6% in year one and 7% in the following two years.
With these wage agreements in place, Implats’ operating entities at Rustenburg and Marula can now focus on ensuring safety and sustainability at both mines, Implats group executive corporate relations Johan Theron said in a release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online.
All three platinum majors have now reached three-year wage agreements with AMCU.
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) was the first to do so last Friday, with the Amplats deal also extending to the National Union of Mineworkers, UASA and nonunion affiliated employees.
As with Implats, Lonmin concluded its agreement on Monday.
All are retrospective to July 1 and all roughly in the same ballpark and taken against the background of doing everything possible to avoid a repeat of the long, bitter platinum belt strike of 2014.
Amplats' agreement involves an increase of R1 000 or 7%, in the monthly basic pay for bargaining unit employees, for the three-year period, with increases ranging from 12.5% for the lowest paid employees to 7% for other bargaining unit employees in higher-level bands.
It includes a R120-a-month increase in living-out allowances, housing rent subsidies and home ownership allowances for each of the three years, with the employer’s medical aid contributions increasing by 6.4% from January next year and by 5.5% from both January 2018, and January 2019.
Lonmin agreed a R1 000 a year or 7% increase on basic salary for officials in the B and C bands and 7% on the total cost to company for each year of the agreement, with its living-out allowances up R100 in each year and medical contributions for Category 4 to 9 employees being increased in January of each year.
At the end of this wage agreement, a rock-drill operator at Lonmin will earn a basic salary of R12 296 and a guaranteed package of R19 455.
The impact of Lonmin’s wage agreement is an increase of 7.8% in financial year one, 8.0% in financial year two and 7.1% in financial year three or an average of 7.6% over the three-year period.