South Africa Mine Owners Agree To Discuss Wage Hikes
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Facing a wave of industrial disputes, South Africa's Chamber of Mines said Wednesday it was willing to review current wage agreements for gold miners.
Referring to sometimes violent demands for higher salaries, Chamber negotiator Elize Strydom said "we will meet on (October 9) and we will hopefully be coming with some proposals to address those issues."
The comments followed a day of talks with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which has demanded centralised wage deals for gold and coal miners, agreed last year, be renegotiated or scrapped a year before they are due to expire.
The union on Wednesday claimed victory, telling members that the Chamber of Mines would come to next Tuesday's meeting with "an actual wage offer ... tabled in rand and cents."
The deal will include a pay increase for entry-level workers, and an "adjustment" for rock drill and other operators, NUM said.
Strydom confirmed the contracts of those workers would be examined and added "we are very aware of the urgency of the matter. We have 50,000 (gold) workers on unprotected strike."
"This is not a good situation. We try to resolve all these issues and address them as a matter of urgency."
Meanwhile, an inquiry investigating a police crackdown that killed 34 platinum miners was postponed on Wednesday to allow time for victims' families to travel to the hearings.
The Marikana Commission of Inquiry delayed reports from police forensic experts and crime scene investigators after lawyers argued that victims' families had a right to hear evidence.
"There should be a level of sensitivity," said Dumisa Ntsebeza, representing around 20 victims' families.
"It can't be correct that we inquire into the dead and their families are not here."
Many of the miners hail from South Africa's Eastern Cape province, hundreds of miles from the northwestern Rustenburg town where the hearing is taking place.
News Source: AFP
The comments followed a day of talks with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which has demanded centralised wage deals for gold and coal miners, agreed last year, be renegotiated or scrapped a year before they are due to expire.
The union on Wednesday claimed victory, telling members that the Chamber of Mines would come to next Tuesday's meeting with "an actual wage offer ... tabled in rand and cents."
The deal will include a pay increase for entry-level workers, and an "adjustment" for rock drill and other operators, NUM said.
Strydom confirmed the contracts of those workers would be examined and added "we are very aware of the urgency of the matter. We have 50,000 (gold) workers on unprotected strike."
"This is not a good situation. We try to resolve all these issues and address them as a matter of urgency."
Meanwhile, an inquiry investigating a police crackdown that killed 34 platinum miners was postponed on Wednesday to allow time for victims' families to travel to the hearings.
The Marikana Commission of Inquiry delayed reports from police forensic experts and crime scene investigators after lawyers argued that victims' families had a right to hear evidence.
"There should be a level of sensitivity," said Dumisa Ntsebeza, representing around 20 victims' families.
"It can't be correct that we inquire into the dead and their families are not here."
Many of the miners hail from South Africa's Eastern Cape province, hundreds of miles from the northwestern Rustenburg town where the hearing is taking place.
News Source: AFP
