BUSINESS MAVERICK: After a bruising battle in the gold sector, tense wage negotiations loom in the platinum space

  • 📰 dailymaverick
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 67 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 30%
  • Publisher: 84%

Malaysia News News

Malaysia Malaysia Latest News,Malaysia Malaysia Headlines

BUSINESS MAVERICK: After a bruising battle in the gold sector, tense wage negotiations loom in the platinum space By Ed Stoddard

After years of bleeding cash in the face of depressed prices, soaring costs, and frequent eruptions of community and labour unrest, South Africa’s platinum sector has turned a corner: Some companies are making money again — lots of it — and are rewarding investors with dividends.

In March, the main CPI gauge was 4.5%, so 2019’s settlements could conceivably be in the single digits — a win for both sides. . And food price inflation was only 3.1% in March. Your typical mineworker has eight dependants, so pap on the table consumes much of their income. Muted food inflation is likely to mute wage demands .

Let’s start with Anglo American Platinum , the world’s top producer of the white metal. Amplats has made a dramatic and profitable pivot to mechanisation, selling off its labour-intensive shafts around Rustenburg to Sibanye-Stillwater — effectively shedding thousands of its Amcu members in the process.

Northam Platinum signed a three-year wage agreement with NUM in October at its main producing mine so it is off the table. Perhaps as a sign of things to come elsewhere, that was for annual increases of 7% for the lowest-paid workers. In 2017, Sibanye-Stillwater also reached a three-year wage agreement at its Kroondal operation which also saw annual hikes of about 7%.

Mathunjwa has compared Froneman to colonial cowboy Cecil Rhodes. Froneman, for his part, has accused Mathunjwa of pursuing a political agenda to entrench his position. Both men, who in their very different ways have dominated South African mining in recent years, are girding for a showdown.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

RaymondSuttner AMCU should comply with the law and should be given a chance to do so

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 3. in MY

Malaysia Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Malaysia Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Business Maverick: OPEC Gambles With Success of Production Cuts as $80 Oil LoomsAfter managing to revive oil prices through production cutbacks, OPEC now risks squandering its victory again by letting crude surge too high.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Cartoon Friday: Rico
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

BUSINESS MAVERICK ANALYSIS: Central banks’ musical chairs put independence up for grabsA changing of the guards at central banks around the world at a time when the value of both political and operational central bank independence is up for debate could yield some surprises. History shows these can be pretty dramatic as tensions run high between presidents and bank governors.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

BUSINESS MAVERICK: Shoprite’s R3.3bn payout proposal to Christo Wiese could easily be voted downWhen a company puts out an announcement involving R3.3bn on a Thursday afternoon before a long weekend, you have to wonder. And that is what the financial community has been doing about Shoprite’s proposal to pay its chairman R3.3bn for high voting-power shares with an actual monetary value of, well, nothing. There are some who think it’s a deal worth doing, but some significant shareholders on Tuesday said, very firmly, they would be voting against the proposal. The deal could very easily fail. Former Steinhoff Chairman Christo (I know nothing, I am the victim) Wiese who presided over the biggest financial disaster in SA, should all his assets frozen NOW. It will be immoral not to vote this down, otherwise you are all accomplices
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Kraft Heinz’s Problems Run Deeper Than Its CEOKraft Heinz Co.’s problems stem not from a single manager but rather an ethos brought to the company by its private equity owner, 3G Capital, and championed by billionaire Warren Buffett. And so it remains to be seen whether replacing the packaged-food giant’s CEO is enough to right the ship, writes Tara Lachapelle for Bloomberg Opinion
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Reported Fires Threaten China’s Electric-Car QuestIn China, where the quality and safety of electric vehicles and their batteries have been increasingly called into question, electric cars bursting into flames have underscored longstanding issues with China's electric-vehicle push, writes Adam Minter for Bloomberg Opinion.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Musk Makes Self-Driving Technology Tesla’s Costly New CallingTesla Inc.’s calling used to be bringing affordable electric cars to the masses. Elon Musk is now ripping up the script, vowing to pair self-driving technology with a sharing service that will make it crazy for consumers to buy other cars.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Saudis Pledge to Ensure Oil Supply if Iran Exports CollapseSaudi Arabia will coordinate with other crude producers to ensure that adequate supplies are available and the market “does not go out of balance,” Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said, after the U.S. ended waivers for buyers of Iranian oil.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »

Business Maverick: Tuesday, April 23: Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your DayOil market surges after Trump’s move to cut Iran’s crude exports, Samsung pulls its folding phone and Sri Lanka lays the blame for an Easter Sunday attack on local terror group. Here are some of this morning’s key stories.
Source: dailymaverick - 🏆 3. / 84 Read more »