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South Africa: Work stoppages in gold sector could be called off today
Companies, squeezed by soaring costs and falling prices, have said they cannot afford big pay rises. The National Union of Mineworkers, which represents two-thirds of the country’s unionized gold miners, had been seeking increases of 15 to 60 percent while its rival the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) wants wage hikes of up to 150 percent for the lowest paid workers.
If the gold dispute is resolved, attention will turn to talks in the platinum sector, where AMCU is the dominant union after poaching tens of thousands of disgruntled members from NUM last year.
But the gold strikes have been generally peaceful, raising hope that tensions in the platinum belt can also be contained.
Hopes of an end to a strike in the gold sector saw the South African rand firm to a session high of 10.1900 against the U.S. dollar.
