South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers on nThursday dispelled management hopes of a mod-nerate wage settlement this winter by saying that nits members were ready to strike in support of na hefty wage demand. “I have heard grumblings nfrom our members that this year is do-or-die. I nsuspect that if things do not go their way they n[will] give us a mandate to enact the provisions nof the law in terms of a strike,” said the NUM’s ngeneral secretary, Frans Baleni. In June, unions nrepresenting more than 300,000 mine workers nwill sit down in Johannesburg to negotiate a new ntwo-year pay deal. The NUM said it will deliver nits wage demands by April 29 and managements nsaid they would take more than a month to sift nthrough them. Meanwhile, Baleni denied earlier nreports that the NUM could favor a moderate nwage settlement on account of low inflation, nwhich has fallen to just above 3%. “From what nwe are hearing from our members this low infla-ntion is not relevant to their lifestyle ...Our mem-nbers are not seeing the effects of low inflation nin their shopping baskets and we will be fighting nfor a substantial wage increase to get the value nof their salaries back,” he said. “We will not ncomment until we receive the demands from the nunion,” said Elize Strydom, the chief negotiator nfor the Chamber of Mines.
展开▼
