Gold miner Harmony has concluded a groundbreaking five-year wage deal with five unions, NUM, UASA, NUMSA, Solidarity and AMCU. This will see Harmony miners earning on average an additional 6% on their wages per annum.
The five-year deal is a first in the gold mining sectors and comes into effect on the 1st of July 2024.
The aim of the deal is for workers not to lose out, with increases being inflation-related as a minimum.
All five unions with members at Harmony signed the deal at the Birchwood Hotel. Harmony approached the unions to negotiate the wage package way ahead of the expiry of the current three-year wage agreement, which expires at the end of June.
Harmony has described the signing as a win-win for the company and its workers, particularly in terms of stability.
“For SA, for the mining industry it brings certainty, it brings predictability in terms of our cost structures for the next number of years. It also gives us something to work from in terms of where we are; so, you know lots of people say that SA’s labour relations are volatile. This demonstrates the contrary to that and something that we’re very proud of,” says CEO of Harmony Peter Steenkamp.
Unions welcomed the agreement, saying they think they got their members a fair deal.
“I think from where we’re sitting we think for getting workers R1 200 increase into their actual rates of pay and you increase that by R1 250 the following year, you increase that by R1 300 and R1 450 and then by R1 500 in the last year and those members who are on staff. They get six percent or CPI, whichever one’s the greatest, we think we have not done bad at all.” says Numsa’s Irvin Jim.
The general sentiment around the success of wage talks was the unity among very different unions on this occasion, where their individualized interests are said to have been set aside, making them a formidable negotiating team against the employer.
“I think this is groundbreaking for the five years and all the unions…no one could ever believe that the five unions could stand together with one demand and remember the five years deal also put the company in a position where they can plan and get more investment for five years. Our members can now also plan their future for the next five years,” says UASA’s Nico van Rooyen.
Apart from the percentage increases in the annual pay packet, unions also welcomed the increments their members are set to get on their other benefits.
“Equally, we think that we have done well in that space as well. In terms of living out allowance, we’re happy that at least it’s going to be increasing on an annual basis. Housing, also, ultimately will be increasing with percentages and we think also it is quite something that workers will be able to survive on…on the part of the employer,” says NUM’s Mpho Pakedi.
The agreement even went as far as to anticipate the possibility of retrenchment in the sector, should the global economy and associated demand for commodities not play ball over the next few years.
“Since it’s a five-year agreement, we have made sure that in case the company wants to retrench during the period of five years, the calculation of the severance pay should be based on a fifth-year rate, which is very important because even if they retrench on the 2nd of July, the severance pay will be calculated based on the fifth-year rate,” says AMCU’s Jimmy Gama.
Harmony is the first gold miner to agree a wage deal this year, with other gold miners still set to begin and conclude theirs imminently.
Unions says the deal with Harmony has set an example of what’s possible in the sector, even raising their expectations around future negotiations with other gold miners.
“We’ve also shown the mining industry that there are so many things you cannot control; you cannot control commodity prices, exchange rate, Eskom is a challenge. But you can control labour relations and we have shown here that we can bring peace and stability into the mining industry, especially to Harmony that will hopefully attract investors and, if it’s a viable company, there’s job security for workers and that is what we’ve achieved with this agreement,” says Solidarity’s Gideon du Plessis.
Now all eyes will be on the unions’ forthcoming gold wage negotiations with other employers like Sibanye Stillwater, for example.
This in a current environment where the rand gold price continues to hit all-time highs, trading around R42 700 an ounce or in dollar terms, 2 288 an ounce.
