Anglo Says Platinum Pay Fight Inevitable on Productivity – by Firat Kayakiran (Bloomberg News – June 6, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Anglo American Plc (AAL)’s four-month battle with a labor union at its South African platinum mines was inevitable because the requests by workers are unsustainable, Chief Executive Officer Mark Cutifani said.

“It’s the fight we had to have,” Cutifani said yesterday in a speech in London. “What’s being asked, for us is unsustainable. And at the same time, the productivity in the platinum sector is one tenth the productivity in the Australian mining sector and we are paying one fifth of the wages.”

Anglo controls the world’s largest platinum producer, which has been disrupted by a strike in South Africa since January. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union has called more than 70,000 miners out, including employees at Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS)

Union members are on strike over a demand for basic monthly pay excluding benefits for entry-level underground employees to be more than doubled to 12,500 rand ($1,168) by 2017. The producers have said increases of that order would cost too much.

Minister of Mineral Resources Ngoako Ramatlhodi is coordinating talks between the union and Anglo American Platinum, Lonmin Plc (LMI) and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP), which continue in the South African capital, Pretoria, for a third day today.

“This is one of those challenges we have to take on as an industry, as a company and as a country,” Cutifani said at an event organized by the Melbourne Mining Club. “I’m comfortable we’ll get there, but it does need us to stand our ground and be constructive and find a solution to work in the long term.”

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