JOHANNESBURG - Bruising wage negotiations between South African
goldminers and workers look to have stalled after unions declared an
official wage dispute, which could bring more trouble for beleaguered
bullion producers.
Rising worker militancy has coincided with soaring
costs and falling prices that have prompted producers such as AngloGold
Ashanti to shed a total of 14,000 jobs over the past two years.
Wednesday's declaration by the unions means that two-week-old salary
talks, labelled as the toughest since the end of apartheid in 1994, will
now be held up by a 30-day process of mediation that could end in an
industry-wide strike.
"As far as we are concerned, negotiations
have not yet begun," said Frans Baleni, General Secretary of the
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), one of four unions at the
bargaining table.
If wage bills rise dramatically, the gold companies
could be forced to make further job cuts a prospect that is causing
concern in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) as it prepares for
an election in the first half of 2014.
Bullion producers are offering a
wage increase of 5 percent, up from their initial offer of 4 percent
but way off the 60 to 100 percent demanded by workers. South Africa's
labour laws allow for wage disputes to be referred to an outside
mediator. If that fails, employees are allowed to go on a legal strike.
- Sapa
Editor's Pick