UPDATE 1-S.Africa's gold firms, workers in last-ditch talks
Thu July 24, 2003 12:32 PM ET
(Recasts with rejection of fresh offer from AngloGold)
reuters.com
JOHANNESBURG, July 24 (Reuters) - South African mineworkers and employers resumed wage talks on Thursday evening in a last-ditch effort to avert a Sunday strike, but workers rejected a sweetened offer from world number two AngloGold .
Workers have said they will walk off their jobs on Sunday evening unless companies in the world's biggest gold producing country boost their wage offers to over 10 percent.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Chamber of Mines employers group were locked in meetings with South Africa's two other major gold producers, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold .
The NUM rejected an offer by AngloGold, which had previously offered 9.5-10.0 percent, to boost the lower figure by a quarter percent, spokesman Moferefere Lekorotsoana said in a statement.
Anglogold, South Africa's biggest gold producer, also failed to address union demands on job grading, he added.
Both sides have been talking tough, saying they are now preparing for a strike.
The stoppage against the three gold producers, whose offers currently range from increases of 8.75 percent to 10 percent, would be the first nationwide strike in the industry in 16 years.
On Wednesday the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), representing 1.7 million workers including the NUM, said its members would down tools with the NUM if mine owners did not improve their wage offer by Sunday.
Mine owners say they can ill afford higher labour charges, which make up around half of gold production costs, especially at a time when the strong rand has depressed revenues of dollar-denominated gold.
Mineworkers, citing a surge in inflation last year and a rally in gold prices since the last pact in 2001, initially demanded a wage hike of 20 percent in talks that began in May.
Employers started with a seven percent offer.
South Africa's core inflation is currently running at around eight percent year-on-year. |
