S.Africa mining union demands 60 percent pay rise

South Africa’s mining union on Sunday said it will demand pay increases of up to 60 percent for workers in the gold and coal mining sectors, mounting fears of a new wave of labour unrest amid rising costs in an already hard-hit industry.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said Sunday it wants an employee working underground at a mine to earn a basic monthly salary of 8,000 rand ($850, euros). Surface workers’ expected pay was placed at 7,000 rand ($744, euros).

This translates as an increase of 60 percent for underground workers, up from the current salary of 5,000 rand a month.

“The demands were submitted to the Chamber of Mines on Friday. It is about 15 percent for all other categories except for the underground workers, where we are not demanding a percentage but we are demanding a fixed amount of money,” NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told AFP.

South Africa’s Chamber of Mines said it had received the demands and would start preparing for negotiations.

The hefty demands will mean a “serious and committed approach to negotiation”, said the chamber’s chief negotiator Elize Strydom.

Miners are battling poor commodity prices, with gold prices this month suffering their heaviest slump in 30 years owing to weak Chinese growth data and reports that Cyprus was planning to sell some of its reserves of the precious metal.

NUM’s demands have revived prospects of widespread strikes after a rash of deadly labour unrest at the Marikana platinum mine last year spread to other mines, killing more than 50 people.

The platinum sector is already facing threats of renewed wildcat strikes after top global producer Anglo American Platinum announced early this month its intention to cut 6,000 jobs at the firm’s South African operations.

Its cost-cutting plan had initially targeted 14,000 jobs before the company caved in to pressure from the government and unions to review its decision.

Amplats, which accounts for almost 40 percent of global platinum production, reported a drop in headline earnings of more than 140 percent in 2012.

At South Africa’s Lonmin platinum mine, union rivalry saw workers stage a two-day strike last week.

Thousand of workers belonging to the upstart Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) had downed tools, demanding that its rival NUM be ejected from the mine.

Analysts predict tough sectoral wage negotiation processes this year with the country going through hard economic times and unions emboldened by hefty wage increases granted last year to end strikes.

South Africa’s hard-hit mining sector helped push growth downward from 3.5 percent in 2011 to 2.5 percent last year.