NUM union to demand a 20 pct wage hike at Amplats

June 3, 2016 9:26 AM

The existing three-year wage deal between the companies and unions expires at the end of June.

Miners walk at the end of their shift at the Anglo Platinum's Khuseleka shaft 1 mine in Rustenburg, northwest of Johannesburg, January 15, 2013.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers will demand a wage increase of 20 percent per year for the next two years in upcoming talks with Anglo American Platinum, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.

According to Amplats, NUM represents about 20 percent of its workforce. The majority belong to NUM's arch rival, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.

But NUM has the majority at Amplats' key Mogalakwena mine, the company's cash spinner and most profitable asset.

AMCU's wage demands are not yet known, but will also likely be double digit.

Wage demands in South Africa are being driven in part by soaring food prices triggered by a drought.

Platinum firms are still reeling from the effects of a record five-month strike in 2014 led by AMCU when it sought a more than doubling in wages to 12,500 rand ($802).

In the end, the workers settled for raises of around 20 percent annually.

($1 = 15.5892 rand)