JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Trade union Solidarity has welcomed the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union’s (AMCU’s) decision to call off a strike at gold miner Sibanye Gold, but said it was disappointed that Sibanye had made concessions to AMCU after promising it would not.
AMCU had planned to embark on a strike at the mine on Wednesday afternoon but called it off after the miner made a new wage offer to AMCU members.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which has also expressed its dissatisfaction with Sibanye’s revised wage offer, indicated that Sibanye had offered AMCU employees an additional R25 on top of the wage increase accepted by employees from other unions in October last year.
“It is most regrettable that Sibanye Gold succumbed to pressure and made concessions to AMCU outside collective bargaining structures,” said Solidarity general secretary Gideon du Plessis.