SA union mulls pay offer

strike that could impact production at the world’s second-largest producer of the precious metal.
Eddie Majadibodu, NUM’s chief negotiator at Implats, said the union would consult its members on the new offer, which was “neither good nor bad”.
“We’ve met until this morning, there has been some movement from the company and we will engage with our members to discuss it,” he told Reuters.
The labour discord is the latest in a wave of industrial action in Africa’s biggest economy. Gold and coal workers reached deals this week for 7,5 to 10 percent wage hikes to end strikes that curtailed production.

The union will meet with Implats again on August 12-13 after the latest negotiations lasted until well after midnight.
The NUM, seeking a 14 percent raise for its 26 000 workers at Implats, has rejected Implats’ previous offer of between 7,5 and 8 percent. Unions say employers should pass along the benefits of high precious metal prices to workers facing increasing food and fuel bills.
Implats and its bigger rival Anglo American Platinum together account for two-thirds of global platinum supply and any prolonged strike could push prices higher.

Economists have cautioned that wage settlements well above the current 5 percent inflation rate erode South Africa’s global competitiveness by driving up the cost for a labour force already more expensive and less efficient than those in rival emerging economies.
The ruling African National Congress, in a governing alliance with labour, does not want to antagonise a group that has supplied it with millions of votes by putting pressure on unions to seek more modest deals.

Gold miners started returning to work late on Tuesday after a two-year deal was reached with the country’s top three gold miners. The companies said it would take a day or two before mines are back to full production.
The NUM said is also in wage talks with state-owned utility Eskom, which supplies more than 95 percent of South Africa’s power. They were also expected to last into yesterday.
More than 200 000 South African water, sanitation and refuse workers plan a wage strike in the coming days that could disrupt services in major cities, their union said on Wednesday. – Reuters.