Gold Fields South Deep mine has inked a three-year wage hike deal with trade unions NUM, and Uasa. The agreement includes wage hikes of up to 8% and it remains to be seen if this will serve as a template for negotiations with other gold producers.
“The total increase of the settlement amounts to an average increase of 6.5% a year over the three-year period. South Africa’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) was running at 4.4% in April but economists do not expect it to quicken past 6% this year,” said mine owner Gold Fields in a statement.
Rank-and-file workers will get a raise of 8% in year one and, after that, 8% or CPI, whichever is higher. Miners, artisans and officials on the other hand will get a 6% hike this year and, for the next two years, 6% or CPI if it is higher.
NUM’s demands
“Given the prevailing economic climate and the bullish commodity market, the settlement reached with South Deep Gold Mine through constructive engagements sets a benchmark for other mining companies,” Franz Stehring, chief negotiator for Uasa, said in the statement.
The South Deep, a mechanised mining operation, has been first out of the door with a wage deal in recent years. However, it was hit in late 2018 by unrest of members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The NUM is demanding 15% across the board. Many of its members have several dependents and rising unemployment in the pandemic’s wake means more mouths for a breadwinner to feed. Gold companies are generating good cash at the moment, with the precious metal’s price fetching just shy of US $1,900 an ounce, not far off its historic highs of over US $2,000 scaled last year.
