South African Chamber of Mines denies early negotiation claims

South Africa’s Chamber of Mines yesterday denied claims that it is launching wage negotiations with mining officials ahead of schedule.

Asked whether negotiations scheduled for 2013 were being pushed forward, chamber official Elize Strydom said “absolutely not.”

Strydom said that a task team has been formed to examine issues including rock drillers’ salaries and basic wages. Work on the matter is anticipated to be completed by the end of the month.

For his part, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) secretary-general Frans Baleni said that work is being accelerated to ensure that the aforementioned categories of workers receive some sort of offer.

Offers regarding this matter would affect roughly 70% of South Africa’s workforce in the gold and coal sectors.

Source (English): Times Live