‘It’s not what they wanted’ – NUM disappointed with Sibanye-Stillwater wage offer

The three-month strike by Sibanye-Stillwater mineworkers has ended after they accepted a three-year wage proposal at the weekend.

The strike saw thousands of mineworkers affiliated to the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) down tools for higher wages. Some camped in the bottom garden of the Union Buildings.

NUM national spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said they welcomed the return to work but were disappointed with the offer the members had settled for.

“It is not what they wanted, but they gave the mandate to sign to go back to work,” he said.

Congress of South African Trade Unions provincial secretary Louisa Modikwe applauded the mineworkers for the unity they displayed during the three month-long strike.

“The resilience illustrated by workers affiliated to the NUM and Amcu is highly commendable,” Modikwe said.

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She said the workers firmly defended their demands and collective bargaining and did not waver amid various pressures throughout their struggle. Modikwe said it served as a strong message to all employers in the province that workers in Gauteng were prepared to fight for better wages.

Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow minister of economic development Michael Cardo said the DA welcomed the acceptance of a wage agreement mediated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to bring the impasse to an end.

“We applaud the role played by the CCMA in brokering the settlement. The CCMA’s constructive actions stand in stark contrast to the destructive sabre-rattling of Gwede Mantashe [minister of mineral resources and energy] who threatened to revoke Sibanye’s mining rights at one point if the company did not accede to the trade unions’ demands,” he said.

Sibanye-Stillwater spokesperson Memory Johnstone said the company was pleased members of Amcu and NUM had given the union leadership a mandate to accept a three-year wage proposal made by the CCMA.

“The agreement will become binding once it has been formalised and all parties have signed,” she said.

The agreement was expected to be concluded this week. The three-year wage proposal offered category four to eight employees currently earning between R8,500 and R9,500 a month an increase of R1,000 in year one, R900 in year two and R750 in year three.

Miners, artisans and officials would receive an increase of 5%. Employees were offered a once-off hardship allowance payment of R3,000, of which a portion would be allocated to reduce debt or loans owed to the company.

An economist, Dawie Roodt, said it would take the striking miners two years to make up the money lost in the three-month strike.

“If they lost three months of pay for R1,000 extra, it will take 24 months to catch up to where they left off three months ago.”

The end of a strike was good news in light of natural resource prices rising.

“It was the time to capitalise but the reality was that the mineworkers did not win the strike,” he said.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za