Harmony Gold agrees five-year wage deal with unions

South Africa’s Harmony Gold has signed a five-year wage deal with a coalition of trade unions, the company said on Thursday.

South Africa’s often fractious major unions jointly negotiated a deal which will see the majority of workers receiving wage increases of 6.2% in the first three years from July 2024, rising to 6.35% in the fourth year and 6.5% in the fifth year.

The increases will be linked to the inflation rate if it rises above the agreed percentage increases, Harmony said. South Africa’s annual consumer price inflation was 5.6% in February, up from 5.3% the previous month.

“For the first time in our 73-year history, we have concluded a five-year wage agreement with all of our labour unions,” Harmony Gold CEO Peter Steenkamp said in a statement.

South African mining operations are occasionally disrupted by strikes over pay, impacting output.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the country’s biggest mining industry labour union, and its smaller rival Solidarity confirmed the agreement.

Harmony said the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union and the United Association of South Africa were also part of the deal.

(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Jan Harvey)