We will not improve wage offer to NUM – Northam
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Northam Platinum has confirmed in a statement released to the media that it will not improve on its most recent two-year wage offer to striking members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
“The current offer, which is the third to be tabled, is the maximum the company can afford for the business to remain sustainable, given the economic conditions in the platinum industry. It is also at the top end of all other settlements in the industry to date,” the company said on Wednesday.
The Johannesburg-listed miner added that the now eleven-day-old NUM strike at its Zondereinde mine had further endangered the viability and sustainability of the operation.
“The longer the mine stands, the less affordable the offer becomes,” the company stated.
In response to a union memorandum delivered to mine management on Tuesday, Northam said NUM’s wage increase demands of R2 000 a month and R2 100 a month for core and noncore employees respectively, as well as a living-out allowance of R3 718, would equate to wage increases of between 22% and 43% and a 69% increase in the living out allowance.
“In addition to the basic wage demands above, all the other demands would have the effect of increasing the company’s wage bill by 61%,” it noted.
In contrast, Northam had offered increases of 7.5%, or R500, for noncore workers and 8%, or R600, for core workers within categories 2 to 8.
It also offered an 8%, or R190, increase on the current R2 200 living-out allowance.
Northam said a further meeting under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration had been scheduled for November 15.
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