JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Trade unions Solidarity, Uasa and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have declared a dispute after talks deadlocked during the fourth and final round of coal industry wage negotiations at the Chamber of Mines (CoM).

This was despite the chamber on Monday increasing its wage offer for skilled employees from 6.5% to 7%, which included a 7% increase in the housing allowance.

The unions last week rejected a revised offer by the CoM for a 7.5% wage increase for entry-level employees in the coal industry.

The dispute would now be referred to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for facilitation, with the first dispute meeting to take place shortly thereafter.

Solidarity general secretary Gideon du Plessis said the trade union had submitted a request that all employers’ housing allowances be brought in line with the allowance offered by Anglo American Thermal Coal (AATC), which offered the highest allowance of all employers.

“The dispute regarding the inequalities in the housing allowance has already been dragging on for eight years and must be resolved during this round of negotiations.

“In its reply to the chamber, Solidarity indicated that a revised offer that is in line with workers’ inflation burden must be made and that an additional increase must be offered as compensation for the housing inequalities,” he commented.

Uasa divisional manager Franz Stehring told Mining Weekly Online that an issue specific to the coal sector was the “huge” discrepancy between the housing allowances allocated by individual mining companies.

“For example, AATC offers a housing allowance for artisan workers of R5 242, while Delmas Coal only provides R2 915. Yet, they want to offer the same percentage increase.

“If other coal companies are willing to align themselves with AATC’s housing allowance, then we will be willing to consider a wage offer increase of between 8% and 10%,” he said.

NUM general secretary Frans Baleni added that, while some progress had been made during negotiations, the across-the-board offers from the chamber relating to housing allowances, wages and medical coverage were not acceptable to its members.

“We will, however, take a wage offer of 10% or above to our members for consideration,” he told Mining Weekly Online.

Gold Wage Negotiations

Du Plessis added that a process of mediation of wage negotiations in the gold industry would, meanwhile, continue at the chamber on Tuesday.

This followed the declaration of a dispute by Solidarity, NUM and Uasa on July 24 during the gold sector’s centralised wage negotiations process at the CoM.

The chamber, representing AngloGold Ashanti, Evander gold mine, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold, Rand Uranium, Sibanye Gold and Village Main Reef, had improved its initial wage offer from 4% to 5% for both wages and accommodation-related allowances.

Du Plessis said that, while progress had, thus far, been slow, he hoped the chamber would “drastically” raise its latest offer of 5% to create an atmosphere that was conducive to settlement.

“Although the ideal [for Solidarity] is a percentage increase that is in line with workers’ inflation burden and above consumer price inflation, it appears that the parties will have to look for a settlement outside the normal, classic percentage increase. In this case, it seems that the employers favour a cost-of-living-related increase along with an additional increase that should be production related.

“If the latter alternative is presented, a one-off cash payment, together with a cost-of-living-related payment, will have to be considered as a further option,” he averred.

Solidarity also called on rival union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, to participate in Tuesday’s dispute process in good faith together with the other trade unions.