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Cape Town - Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) [JSE:AMS] announced on Friday that it has signed a three-year wage agreement with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).
The agreement is retrospectively effective from July 1 2016, Amplats said in a statement. It makes provision for an annual increase of R1 000 or 7% (whichever is greater) per month in basic pay for bargaining unit employees for the three-year period, with increases ranging from 12.5% for the lowest paid employees to 7% for other bargaining unit employees in higher level bands.
Living out
allowances, housing rent subsidies and home ownership allowances increase by
R120 per month for each year of the three-year agreement. Amplats will increase medical aid contributions by 6.4% from January 1 2017 and on the
first of January for each succeeding year of the wage agreement by 5.5%.
The thirteenth cheque increases by the same percent as the basic wage but off a lower base. The base will increase over the three years to end at the same level as the basic monthly wage at the end of the agreement period. Other allowances have lower increases.
According to Amplats, the deal will mean a cost-to-company increase in labour costs of of 6.71% in year 1, 6.56% in year two and 6.96% in year three, or 6.74% on average over the three-year period.
Amplats CEO Chris Griffith said: "The current economic environment continues to place significant pressure on platinum mining companies, as well as mineworkers, and we are glad to have achieved an agreement that is fair to our employees, benefiting the lowest paid workers the most with a 12.5% increase in basic pay, while still ensuring our business remains viable for the long-term.”
This agreement has been extended to the National Union of Mineworkers, the United Association of South Africa and non-union affiliated employees, said Amplats.
