South Africa's long-divided mining union has won after forming a United front with the industry's largest employer after failed wage negotiations with Sibanye Stillwater (JSE: SSW) (NYSE: SBSW) because the country's labour arbitration body has approved them to strike.
The Mediation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission ((CCMA)), which has been mediating between the Sibanye and the union, announced that the protracted dispute had not been resolved as of December 21 and issued a certificate on Monday allowing the union to issue a notice of strike and allow the company to suspend work.
CCMA said that before any strike or shutdown, each party must give 48 hours' notice to each other.
Since October, the national miners' union (NUM), the miners' association and the construction unions (AMCU), UASA and Solidarity have been negotiating.
Together, they asked workers at the Sibanye mine to raise their wages by 1000 rand ($65) a month. The deal will run every year for the next three years.
Sibanye's current wage quotation represents an increase of 520 rand (US $33.96) per month in the first year of the agreement, 610 rand per month in the second year, and 640 rand per month in some categories of miners in the third year.
Based on the current offer, the precious metals miner said it paid workers wages from July to November last month, although no agreement had been reached. Sibanye added that it would continue to engage with the unions to reach a "fair and reasonable" agreement.
