Northam seeks end to strike SAPA, Business Report, Johannesburg, 6 January 2014 Johannesburg - Northam Platinum has sought a meeting with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) under the auspices of the CCMA to try to end the strike at the Zondereinde platinum mine in Limpopo, the company said on Monday. The NUM's latest demands tabled at a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) meeting on December 7 amounted to an average increase of 16 percent in wages, and a 69 percent increase in the living-out allowance, Northam said in a statement. Such an increase remained unaffordable for the company, and was not in line with the settlements reached in the gold sector and at a number of other platinum producers. NUM chief negotiator Ecliff Tantsi said he was not sure how the company had calculated the union's demands. "I'm not sure how they calculated our demands. Our demands had been received before we left for Christmas," he said. "You will recall that we demanded (an increase of) R1900 for non-core workers and R1800 for core workers." As a compromise, the union said the R1900 and R1800 wage increases could be implemented over a two-year period. "That is what we presented to them," said Tantsi. "They presented a revised offer, which we rejected, of a three-year deal based on our demands. If we can resolve that, then I think we can reach a solution." Northam said the company had lost R500 million in revenue and employees had lost around R100 million in wages since the strike began at the mine on November 3 last year. "Shareholders will be kept informed of progress." Tantsi said when the parties last met, the union stated they would be ready to meet again in the new year, under the auspices of the CCMA. "I think what they are saying is inconsistent with what we agreed when we met," said Tantsi. "We would need to agree to a date." It was in the interests of all parties to find a settlement, he said. - Sapa From: http://www.iol.co.za/business/news/northam-num-seek-end-to-strike-1.1628948# .UsqeB_QW3T8 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
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