South Africa: Union and gold miners ease some pay demands as work stoppage bites

The country’s chamber of mines says about half of the lower-skilled gold mining workforce of 95,000 would fall into the entry-level category.

AMCU, whose members in the gold sector have not gone on strike yet, is seeking pay hikes of as much as 150 percent under the battle cry of a “living wage” and NUM has become more populist in a bid to fend off this challenge.

The conflict between the unions unleashed a wave of wildcat strikes that rocked South Africa’s platinum and gold industries last year, dented economic growth and led to sovereign credit downgrades.

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