SOLIDARITY, a South African trade union, has opened gold industry wage negotiations with a demand for a 10% increase annually over the next three years, said Reuters citing a document it had seen which had been submitted to the industry’s Chamber of Mines.
Solidarity is seeking increases of CPI inflation plus four percent, or 10% “… whichever is greater,” said Reuters. CPI is currently running at 3.8%, it said. Solidarity only represents about two percent of the workforce in South Africa’s gold mines but its members are skilled artisans and supervisors who are crucial to operations, the newswire service said.
Wages account for around half of the costs in South Africa’s gold mining industry and companies have in the past said the cycle of double-digit, above-inflation pay hikes cannot be sustained, unless prices rise considerably, said Reuters.
