JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – All parties involved in this year’s gold wage negotiations have committed to sign a historic ‘house rules’ document or protocol on Monday, which will govern the manner in which negotiations are to be conducted.

Centralised wage negotiations between gold producers represented by the Chamber of Mines and trade unions, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Solidarity and Uasa, started on Thursday.

At the beginning of the week, a prenegotiation workshop was held regarding the current state of the gold sector and to develop a protocol to guide this year’s negotiations. Representatives of the trade unions and gold producers, including AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Rand Uranium, Harmony Gold, Evander Gold Mines, Sibanye Gold and Village Main Reef, attended the workshop.

The parties said in a statement on Friday that considerable progress had been made in developing the protocol.

“…the objective is to ensure that negotiations are carried out professionally and in good faith, recognising the interdependence of all parties and that the gold mining industry’s sustainability, its transformation and the welfare of its employees are a shared responsibility,” the statement read.

All indications are that AMCU will participate in this year’s centralised collective bargaining process, with the union calling for, in addition to several other high-cost items, a minimum entry-level wage of R11 500 for surface workers and R12 500 for underground workers, excluding accommodation, bonuses and benefits.

The NUM, in addition to several other high-cost items, is proposing a surface entry level salary of R7 000 a month and an underground and opencast entry level salary of R8 000 a month.

Solidarity proposed a wage increase of 14% and increases to various other benefits, while Uasa suggested a wage increase of 18%.

The four unions would present and motivate their demands for consideration by the gold producers on Friday and negotiations would resume on Monday.