Business Day
*Gold companies, unions agree to scrap lowest-paid wage category****Allan Seccombe and Carol Paton, Business Day, Johannesburg, 10 October 2012*
GOLD companies, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and other unions, which signed a two-year wage deal for the gold sector on Tuesday, have agreed to eradicate the lowest-paid category of wages in the industry.
The gold sector is extremely wary of opening wage negotiations with unions, which would render the strikes legal, but committed to the talks with unions in an attempt to resolve the strike that has crippled production at the country's mines for weeks.
The illegal strikes by an estimated 80,000 mine workers have since August cost billions of rand in lost revenue and tax receipts, and contributed towards ratings downgrades and a weakening of the rand.
At the end of the talks on Tuesday, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony agreed that there were "anomalies" in mineworkers' working arrangements that had to be addressed and committed to dealing with them.
The companies agreed to do away with the lowest-paid category of wages. Entry-level workers would now move up one category.
Rock-drill operators would be paid an undisclosed allowance and a new category of wages would be introduced for operators of locomotives, loaders, winches and water jets. There would also be "some adjustments in pay for other employees", the parties agreed, which would "preserve the integrity of the job-grading framework".
The unions said they would arrange mass meetings on Wednesday to present the proposals to their members. Should they be accepted, the changes would be implemented immediately.
Elize Strydom, senior executive for employment relations at the Chamber of Mines, said on Tuesday night that it was "critical" that the companies and the unions show leadership while restoring stability to the mining industry.
"This is important, not only for the companies, the unions and the mineworkers, but also for the economic and social wellbeing of the country," she said.
The unions and the companies also re-committed to finalising their discussions on improved productivity by March 2013.
The Chamber of Mines on Tuesday night endorsed the call by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) for a commission of inquiry into the working and living conditions in the mining industry and said it was prepared to participate in the process.
The parties would meet again on Thursday. *_Dismissals_*Gold One on Tuesday fired 1,435 of its 1,900 workers at Ezulwini mine. This is the second time this year that the Chinese-owned company has taken a hard line against striking workers --- it laid off a similar number of workers at its Modder East mine.
Gold One's action followed the dismissal of 12,000 striking workers at Anglo American Platinum last week.
Also on Tuesday, Atlatsa Resources fired 2,161 out of 3,514 permanent workers at its Bokoni platinum mine in Limpopo, after an illegal strike that started on October 1.
Atlatsa shares were the day's top performer, gaining more than 13% on the news of the dismissals to close at R1.70.
Gold One's shares made a modest gain of 0.3%.Gold One is gradually replacing its Modder East workforce with contract miners. The workers dismissed from the company's loss-making Ezulwini mine have a right to appeal against their dismissals and those hearings will continue until Thursday.
*_Wage deal_*The current two-year wage deal reached between gold companies represented in the collective bargaining chamber, the NUM, Solidarity and Uasa expires in June next year.
Talks for a new two-year deal will only start next year.Gold Fields, AngloGold and Harmony have been adamant they will not engage in wage talks outside of what is stipulated in the collective agreement, for fear of rendering future wage agreements worthless.
Harmony is losing about 803oz of gold a day at its strike-hit Kusasalethu mine at a cost of R12.4m. Gold Fields is shedding 2,300oz of gold a day, worth R35m. AngloGold's mines in South Africa are shut.
Some analysts have lowered their forecasts for global gold output growth to 1% from about 4% because of the reduced output from South Africa.
Gold miners and the NUM are revisiting specific clauses in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement that allow for the wages of the lowest earners in the gold mines to be addressed outside the prevailing agreement.
"We were all a bit slack in addressing those provisions. They're fairly complicated," an industry source said on Tuesday. "These strikes have certainly concentrated people's minds around this matter."
The big question hanging over the talks is whether the proposal for an increase will be well received by the striking gold miners, most of whom are demanding a basic salary of R12,500.
*From: http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/labour/2012/10/10/gold-companies-unions-agree-to-scrap-lowest-paid-wage-category*
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