Trade union Solidarity today said it was disappointed with certain aspects of the offer the Chamber of Mines had presented to trade unions earlier today. In motivating its demands at the Chamber, Solidarity placed particular emphasis on raising the retirement age, as well as emphasising the importance of job security and an increase of the employer contribution to medical aid.

“We are disappointed that the Chamber didn’t take any steps to raise the retirement age from 60 to 63,” Solidarity General Secretary Gideon du Plessis said. Du Plessis added that the trade union places a premium on its members’ job security. “The offer the Chamber brought to the table is indicative of a lack of commitment to offer members more job security,” Du Plessis explained.

In its offer, the Chamber of Mines indicated it would grant the respective mining houses an annual increase of between 4,5% and 6%.Du Plessis said that company specific wage offers threaten collective bargaining in the gold mining industry which is indeed supposed to promote uniformity. Solidarity said the offer goes beyond a mere wage offer, focusing specifically on the sustainability of the gold mining industry in future. According to Du Plessis, this sustainability principle is acceptable to the trade union and for this reason Solidarity would repackage its demands within this sustainability framework.

Du Plessis added that the trade union welcomed the proposal to make home ownership more accessible but added that in conjunction with the proposal mining houses should make mine houses more affordable.
The trade union has expressed its satisfaction with the principle of profit sharing of between 3,5% and 5% stipulated in the offer though.

Du Plessis, however, added that because of various economic factors the likelihood for retrenchment was greater than the likelihood for profit sharing, and employees therefore needed a larger safety net. “Given that Nersa has turned down Eskom’s application for an electricity tariff increase, it would hopefully pave the way for the mining houses to grant better increases to employees,” Du Plessis added.

Issued by Solidarity