South Africa’s powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has signed a five-year wage agreement with Petra Diamonds.
The wage agreement is an extension of the 2021–2024 wage agreement between the parties.
NUM said the agreement supersedes any other previous wage agreement between the parties.
It said the basic salary of the employees, excluding all allowances, non-salary related bonuses, gratuities and payments of a like nature, would be increased from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2029. The first year will see a wage increase of 6.25% against the consumer price index (CPI), followed by another 5.75% raise in the second and third years.
The salaries will increase by 6.5% in the fourth and fifth years.
NUM chief negotiator at Petra Diamonds, Masibulele Naki, said the wage negotiations were tough and robust.
“We signed the wage agreement today under a very difficult situation where the NUM is facing two retrenchments at Cullinan and Finsch Mines,” he said.
“We managed to negotiate for salary increases that we think will sustain jobs and also make sure that workers are happy.”
Petra mines diamonds at Cullinan and Finsch in South Africa and Williamson in Tanzania.
The company’s first-half revenue for the fiscal year 2024 amounted to $187.8 million, compared to $208.5 million a year earlier.
Its like-for-like prices were down 13.3% compared to the first half of FY 2023 sales, with the balance of price movements attributable to product mix.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
