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20 September, 2010
Members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa strongly rejected last Thursday (16 September) a weak wage proposal from Northam Platinum Ltd., thus extending a 15-day strike by 8,600 miners at the company’s Zondereinde mine in Limpopo province. The two sides will meet again tomorrow, 21 September, under auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) in Polokwane, but the two sides are far apart.
The strike started with the night shift on 5 September, following NUM strike notice served to the South African-based company on 2 September. In August, a certificate of non-resolution was served by the CCMA.
Last week’s company wage offer of 8.5% is less than fair for NUM members at Northam, who are paid notoriously low wages. The offer was presented as “a take-it-or-leave-it” proposition from bosses, and NUM members at Zonereinde rejected it resoundingly with a heavy “no” vote.
Northam’s offer was a mere half-percent above its original proposal, and it rather miserly raised its monthly living-out allowance in last week’s offer from 1,600 rand to 1,700, or US$237. The NUM is seeking a wage increase of 15% plus a living-out stipend twice the company’s offer, 3,500 rands per month, or US$485.
Salaries at Northam are as low as 3,500 rands per month before taxes, about US$480. Very recently, South African Mvelaphanda Resouces sold a 12.2% stake in Northam to London-based but Asian-centered Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. Plc. for 2.2 billion rand (US$295.9 million).
Two other NUM strikes, both in South Africa’s mineral sands sector, ended in September. A CCMA dispute between the NUM and Richards Bay Minerals, a 50/50 joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton in northern KwaZulu-Natal, was resolved with a three-year labour accord that ended a week-long strike in early September. Richards Bay Minerals produces titanium minerals mined from sand dunes, such as zircon, titanium slag and rutile, and titanium dioxide.
The other strike, against Exxaro’s KZN Sands operation also in KwaZulu-Natal that involved 600 miners, ended on 14 September with a satisfactory 2010 wage gain and re-writes to job grades. That strike began 24 August.
NUM Spokesman Lesiba Seshoka
In other NUM news, the powerful union continues its longstanding policy of downing tools for a day in remembrance to comrades killed on the job. That will again happen this week, following the 14 September death of a NUM member at AngloGold’s TauTona mine near Carletonville. The death was caused by an underground tram accident and workers at TauTona will observe the tragedy this week, in the words of NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka, “to ensure that the company gets the message loud and clear that if you continue to claim the lives of innocent workers, we will claim your profit.”