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South Africa: Gold miners begin work stoppage over pay
Tens of thousands of gold miners in South Africa are set to industrial action Tuesday after wage talks broke down, threatening to cost millions of dollars in lost output in the troubled sector.
Powerful labor group the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which represents the bulk of 120,000 workers affected, called for stoppages following its members’ rejection of a 6.5 percent wage hike last week.
Union spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said early Tuesday that the strike would kick off on the 6:00 pm (12:00 p.m. EDT) shift. “We will go until Christmas,” he told reporters.
The gold sector stands to lose 761 kilograms in production each day, worth around US$34 million, gold industry as a result of the stoppage.
Gold workers are demanding wage increases of between 60 and 100 percent, denouncing company executives’ high salaries while workers live in poverty in a country with one of the world’s biggest wealth gaps.
“The pay that we are asking for is not high. It is normal and reasonable,” said Seshoka. “If there are bosses that sit in air-conditioned offices earning millions a year, why can’t they (miners) earn ZAR 7,000 (US$673) basic a month?”
The work stoppage will add to the pressure building on the country – currently Africa’s largest economy, where at least 75,000 workers in the construction and automobile industries have downed tools since last week.
The stoppages have become a frequent occurrence during annual wage negotiations, but this year come amid sluggish growth and rampant unemployment.
South Africa was for decades the world’s largest gold producer, but its share of production has shrunk from 68 percent in 1970 to 6 percent of the world total in 2012.
Falling gold prices, a declining grade of ore and some of the world’s deepest mines are all factors constrained gold firms’ profits.
In part because of work stoppages, gold production last year fell by 12.4 percent to 167.2 tonnes – its lowest level in over a century, and cost the South African economy US$500 million.
But workers insist their dramatic pay demands are justified after a history of cheap black labor built the continent’s most sophisticated economy.
“It is true that there are legacy issues that we must deal with,” wrote Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani.
Seven gold mining firms, including giants AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields, offered a maximum of 6.5 percent pay raise.
The industry’s latest offer guarantees average pay of ZAR 9,170 (US$882) a month and profit-sharing schemes, however Union spokesman Seshoka said the figure was misleading.
“They are combining everything, including medical aid and living out allowance,” he said.
If the downward spiral continues, the gold sector may employ only 60,000 people by 2020, according to the Chamber of Mines. But Cutifani said it had the potential to create 260,000 jobs by then if the industry, government and labor groups could reach a workable plan.
Meanwhile work stoppages in other industries continue.
Around 11,000 cheaply-exploited and underpaid automobile workers will march in the capital Pretoria Tuesday, while 72,000 petrol station attendants hold off on stoppages pending wage talks.
Over 45,000 construction workers are also withholding labur for higher wages.
Copyright 2013 AFP