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South Africa: Union and gold miners ease some pay demands as work stoppage bites
(Reuters) – South Africa’s main mining union has offered to compromise on some of its demands for higher pay after initiating industrial action and work stoppage that hit production at most of the country’s gold mines on Wednesday.
The stoppage called by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) began at the evening shift on Tuesday, with many miners refusing to go underground, producers said.
Production at 16 of the 23 mines currently involved in talks was partially or severely affected on Wednesday morning, the Chamber of Mines said. Affected companies include South Africa’s main producers AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold and Sibanye Gold.
The stoppage is seen costing Africa’s largest economy around US$35 million a day in lost production, adding to the nation’s economic woes as strikes over pay reduce output in other industries such as auto manufacturing.
On Tuesday, South African President Jacob Zuma had appealed to employers and unions to try to avert a strike in the iconic but waning South African gold mining industry.
South Africa’s gold mines once accounted for close to 80 percent of global output but its deep and dangerous shafts now only produce 6 percent.
The National Union of Mineworkers, which represents two thirds of miners in the gold sector, had offered the Chamber of Mines, which negotiates on behalf of employers, a more flexible position, a spokesman said.
