Monday 21st July
OPINION & ANALYSIS
"False benevolence"
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"Damn it, we built this country. We put Africa on the international map. Without us, South Africa could easily have been just another banana republic. They would never have been able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps had it not been for us.
These thoughts cannot be attributed to any individual at the Chamber of Mines. But the sentiment is utterly paternalistic.
Such is the despair of big capital as 160 000 miners prepare to strike over wages and poor working conditions after failed mediation by the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration. The workers are demanding a 20 percent across-the-board increase in wages. The chamber's gold sector has offered 8.75 percent.
But tales of woe hide the realities. The mining sector, employing about 500 000 people, was estimated to be worth R700 billion in 2001, with a wage bill of about R24.5 billion.
The National Union of Mineworkers' demand of a 20 percent rise would increase labour costs by 38 percent, according to Frans Barker, the chamber's gold spokesperson.
So what. Without people there won't be production. The absolute pittance currently paid to surface and underground workers hardly gets the earth moving.
The olive branch has to be a minimum of 14 percent."
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=553&fArticleId=191476
Sunday Times [Johannesburg] Sunday 20 Jul 2003 "Digging deep" Five mining houses break ranks in bid to avert crippling strike
New developments shift the balance in favour of a settlement, writes Hilton Shone 'We are going to try to get an agreement and not sit back and wait for things to happen'
Wage negotiations in the gold and coal mining industry are on a knife-edge after a fifth company broke ranks with the Chamber of Mines and offered its workers a separate wage deal in a bid to avert a potentially crippling strike.
Placer Dome, which jointly owns and runs the South Deep mine, said on Friday it would raise wages by between 9% and 9.5%, joining AngloGold and three coal producers who have also bid above the chamber's offer.
AngloGold is offering its workers between 9.5% and 10%, while coal producers Xstrata, AfriOre and Kangra are offering 10%.
This compares with the chamber's 8.75% wage increase for gold miners and 9.5% for workers in coal mines, a move that prompted the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to file notice that 160 000 of its members would begin a strike on Sunday.
If it goes ahead, it will be the first nationwide stoppage in the mining sector since 1987.
And despite Placer Dome's offer, NUM said South Deep was still on the list of six gold and coal companies due to experience strikes. This contradicts a chamber statement that the strike threat had effectively been lifted.
"We were issued a certificate to strike by the CCMA [Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration]," said NUM spokesman Moferefere Lekorotsoana. "Only they can amend the certificate or issue a new one. We will have to wait until Monday for that."
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Nevertheless, the talks have come a long way, with agreement reached on retirement fund contributions, a minimum wage of R2 000 within the next 12 months, an increase in annual leave to 30 days and paid maternity leave.
The chamber and workers have also agreed that the wage deal will be valid over two years.
Gold miners will receive a pay increase equal to inflation in the second year and coal miners inflation plus 1%.
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/07/20/business/news/news01.asp