South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) announced it will demand a double-digit pay raise when it meets with the Chamber of Mines in May, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
Labour tensions are peaking in South Africa as wage agreements for gold, coal and a majority of platinum producers will expire this June.
The NUM is the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions with over 300,000 members but it has been losing support recently to other groups, in particular the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, which has strong footholds within South Africa’s three largest platinum producers.
NUM’s Secretary General Frans Baleni says that he is hoping to conclude negotiations before July 1st, and he has not ruled out the possibility of a strike thereafter, depending on the result.
Sources: Reuters; International Business Times
