Mine wage negotiations could get ugly
- Published on 8 Aug 2013
- HR Pulse News Desk
The Mail&Guardian (M&G) reports that during this season’s round of wage negotiations, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will try to force the employers to redesign the grading system
NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said that the reason why NUM is fighting so hard to overhaul the grading system is that as next year is the 20th anniversary of the South African democracy they want all wage disparities created by apartheid to be eliminated by then.
NUM general secretary, Frans Baleni, said during an interview with Business Day, that the “grading system failed to take into account ‘the challenges of working underground’ and that percentile wage increments drove up the gap between low-grade workers and higher grade workers’.
Wage talks have been shifted to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). Unions are demanding between 60 and 150% increases for entry-level workers.
