SA Trade Unions Signed Wage Agreement with Sibanye

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The South African trade unions have signed a wage deal agreement with miner Sibanye Stillwater. With this, the company’s gold mines are all set to restart operations.

According to media reports, two trade unions- National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) signed the three-year wage agreement with the company on June 11th. It must be noted that the unions had agreed on the deal on June 3rd itself, but had refused to sign it, demanding further negotiations on certain finer aspects of the deal.

The wage agreement signed Saturday morning will put an end to the three-month old strike first called by the NUM and AMCU on 8^th March. The company had locked out its employees from gold operations since the beginning of the strike.

As per the deal, employess belonging to Category 4-8 will receive increase in wages by R1,000 in the first year, followed by increase of R900 and R750 in the second and third year respectively. Apart from that, the employees will receive a one-off hardship allowance payment of R3,000. The deal also promises increased wages to miners, artisans and officials.

The deal will help South African gold operations of the miner to return to stability and profitability.