Today's Labour News

Fin24 reports that Sibanye-Stillwater and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) have concluded a five-year wage agreement covering employees at the group’s platinum group metal (PGM) mines.

Sibanye on Friday announced it and the union had reached an agreement for a 6% wage increase for lower-skilled employees in respect of each year of the agreement at the company's Rustenburg and Marikana platinum operations. The final agreement is consistent with Sibanye’s previous offer to AMCU except there is a fixed annual wage increase of R1,300 and R1,400 in years four and five – or 6% – whichever is the highest. The previous proposal linked the increase in the last two years to the rate of inflation. So-called ‘miners and artisan’ will also receive average annual wage increases of 6% per annum for each of the five years. The final agreement will be extended to all unionised and non-unionised employees at the operations. The agreement with AMCU follows previous agreements reached with the National Union of Mineworkers and UASA four weeks ago, and marks the conclusion of the wage negotiation processes at the group’s platinum business. Sibanye had last month expressed concern that AMCU leadership had rejected the deal for which there appeared to be overwhelming support for by employees and union representatives at the operations. "We are pleased to have concluded these wage negotiations timeously and expediently, without disruption or the need for third party intervention," said Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lisa Steyn at Fin24
• Read too, Sibanye-Stillwater reaches agreement with AMCU on five-year wage deal for PGMs, at Miningmx

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