By Melanie Cheary JOHANNESBURG, July 14 (Reuter) - South Africa's gold mining industry and the National Union of Mineworkers on Monday unveiled a productivity-linked wage deal which could save thousands of jobs threatened by a meltdown in the gold price.
The framework deal is the first of its kind, offering miners substantial wage increases in exchange for a quantum leap in productivity designed to lift national gold output by nearly 20 percent.
The deal offers a two-year package of annual wage increases of between nine and 25 percent, providing agreement is reached at individual mine and company level to increase 1997 gold production by 90 tonnes from the 495 tonnes produced last year.
"An accord of this nature is likely to protect employment rather than jeopardise it. But we can't give employment guarantees," said Adrian Du Plessis, industrial relations adviser to the Chamber of Mines employer body.
The South African gold industry has long called for improvements in productivity to offset rising costs at its deep, labour-intensive mines which have hampered its ability to compete with cheaper open-cast operations elsewhere in the world.
"(The weak gold price) has added a great urgency and imperative to reaching a robust wage and productivity agreement.
This is an accord which links wages, production and productivity," said Chamber president Nick Segal.
Segal said employers believed there was great scope to increase productivity in the industry.
Thousands of miners, in an already pressed industry with declining production, are threatened with job cuts after the recent slide in the bullion price to 12-year lows.
Gold mine jobs have already been cut back from around 530,000 in 1987 to around 350,000 in 1996.
"This accord allows us to save jobs and lay a foundation for substantial growth in the industry. (This accord) lays down the first lesson for us in how to deal with major setbacks in the industry without panicking, without alarm at possible job losses," said the NUM's general secretary Kgalema Motlanthe.
The deal is subject to negotiation and approval at mine and company level between management and union representatives. The aim is to commence these mine level talks immediately and the Chamber said agreement could be reached within weeks.
A two-year agreement will hopefully eliminate the annual wage struggle that has long been a feature of the industry and has often led to disputes and strikes, the Chamber added.
"The settlement seeks to take the wage conflict out of the mining industry and lays a platform for a better partnership (between workers and management)," Du Plessis said.
The proposed 90-tonne output increase was calculated by accumulating individual producers' target output increases.
"Agreement on this production will trigger the implementation of the wage increases. These are significant wage increases tied to substantial productivity improvement and reflects the joint commitment of both parties," Du Plessis said.
The Chamber said it was negotiating the same deal with other smaller unions and these talks were at an advanced stage.
The wage increases will be backdated to July 1.
10:18 07-14-97
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