Tue Jun 21, 2011 1:52pm GMT
* Union demands 14 percent
* Miners say they cannot afford double-digit wage raises
(Adds details, background, quotes)
JOHANNESBURG, June 21 (Reuters) - South Africa's coal producers have offered the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) a wage offer of 4.2 to 4.5 percent, well below labour demands of 14 percent, the country's Chamber of Mines said on Tuesday.
Labour relations are strained in the mining sector in Africa's largest economy and food and fuel price pressures are stoking wage demands at a time when miners say they can ill-afford to offer increases far above inflation as they grapple with their own cost pressures. A spokesman for NUM, which had demanded 14 percent, told Reuters the union was rejecting the offer.
"If you look at what they have put forward for the higher categories of 4.2 percent that is exactly what headline inflation is, so there is no real increment on that offer," spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said.
"We are calling on the Chamber to revisit the offer. We have already made our point clear that it is 14 percent or nothing," he said.
Headline inflation in April was 4.2 percent and despite sky-high commodity prices, mining houses say they cannot continue to dish out the above-inflation raises they have conceded in recent years.
But unions argue that headline inflation does not capture the full impact of rising prices on the incomes of low-wage workers who often have several dependents.
The two sides are to meet again on July 7, Chamber spokesman Jabu Maphalala said.
The Chamber of Mines is negotiating on behalf of several coal miners, including Anglo Thermal Coal SA AAL.J, Exxaro (EXXJ.J: Quote), Optimum Coal (OPTJ.J: Quote) and Xstrata Coal (XTA.L: Quote). On Monday NUM also rejected a 4 percent pay offer from the country's gold companies, which include Africa's three biggest gold producers -- AngloGold Ashanti (ANGJ.J: Quote), Gold Fields (GFIJ.J: Quote) and Harmony Gold (HARJ.J: Quote).
NUM also said on Tuesday it was demanding 20 percent from Anglo American Platinum (AMSJ.J: Quote), the world's largest platinum producer. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard and Olivia Kumwenda, editing by Ed Cropley, Thomson Reuters)
* Union demands 14 percent
* Miners say they cannot afford double-digit wage raises
(Adds details, background, quotes)
JOHANNESBURG, June 21 (Reuters) - South Africa's coal producers have offered the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) a wage offer of 4.2 to 4.5 percent, well below labour demands of 14 percent, the country's Chamber of Mines said on Tuesday.
Labour relations are strained in the mining sector in Africa's largest economy and food and fuel price pressures are stoking wage demands at a time when miners say they can ill-afford to offer increases far above inflation as they grapple with their own cost pressures. A spokesman for NUM, which had demanded 14 percent, told Reuters the union was rejecting the offer.
"If you look at what they have put forward for the higher categories of 4.2 percent that is exactly what headline inflation is, so there is no real increment on that offer," spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said.
"We are calling on the Chamber to revisit the offer. We have already made our point clear that it is 14 percent or nothing," he said.
Headline inflation in April was 4.2 percent and despite sky-high commodity prices, mining houses say they cannot continue to dish out the above-inflation raises they have conceded in recent years.
But unions argue that headline inflation does not capture the full impact of rising prices on the incomes of low-wage workers who often have several dependents.
The two sides are to meet again on July 7, Chamber spokesman Jabu Maphalala said.
The Chamber of Mines is negotiating on behalf of several coal miners, including Anglo Thermal Coal SA AAL.J, Exxaro (EXXJ.J: Quote), Optimum Coal (OPTJ.J: Quote) and Xstrata Coal (XTA.L: Quote). On Monday NUM also rejected a 4 percent pay offer from the country's gold companies, which include Africa's three biggest gold producers -- AngloGold Ashanti (ANGJ.J: Quote), Gold Fields (GFIJ.J: Quote) and Harmony Gold (HARJ.J: Quote).
NUM also said on Tuesday it was demanding 20 percent from Anglo American Platinum (AMSJ.J: Quote), the world's largest platinum producer. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard and Olivia Kumwenda, editing by Ed Cropley, Thomson Reuters)
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