Amplats, AMCU sign three-year wage agreement

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) on Friday announced that it has signed a three-year wage agreement with trade union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), retrospectively effective from July 1.

The agreement has also been extended to the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), UASA and non-union affiliated employees.

“The current economic environment continues to place significant pressure on platinum mining companies, as well as mineworkers, and we are glad to have achieved an agreement that is fair to our employees, benefiting the lowest-paid workers the most with a 12.5% increase in basic pay, while still ensuring our business remains viable for the long term,” said Amplats CEO Chris Griffith.

The agreement includes an increase of R1 000 or 7%, whichever is greatest, in the monthly basic pay for bargaining unit employees, for the three-year period, with increases ranging from 12.5% for the lowest paid employees to 7% for other bargaining unit employees in higher-level bands.

It also includes a R120 a month increase in living-out allowances, housing rent subsidies and home ownership allowances for each of the three years.

The employer’s medical aid contributions will increase by 6.4% from January 1, 2017, and by 5.5% on both January 1, 2018, and January 1, 2019.

The pensionable emolument bases for retirement and provident funds will increase by 6.4% from July 1 and 5.5% for each of the second and third years of the agreement.

The holiday leave allowance increases by the same percent as basic wages; however, off a lower base.

The base will increase over the three years to end at the same level as the basic monthly wage at the end of the agreement period.

The agreement will result in an increase in Amplats’ labour costs, with a cost-to-company increase of 6.71% in year one, 6.56% in year two and 6.96% in year three, or 6.74% on average over the three-year period. 

AMCU, meanwhile, said in a separate statement that it believes it secured the agreement based its record of being a revolutionary, independent and a worker-controlled union.

“The power of our members and the steadfastness of the leadership of AMCU ensured that Amplats had to agree to the above inflation increase because of the history and struggle [the union] has waged in betterment of workers,” it noted.