Platina - Wall Street Journal om senaste budet

(Artikel här, kräver prenumeration, men jag klistrar in det nedan.)

The world’s three biggest platinum-mining companies have returned to their striking South African workers with a fresh wage offer in a bid to end nearly three months of lost production that has cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Anglo American Platinum Ltd., Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. and Lonmin PLC have united to present above-inflation wage increases of as much as 10% to 80,000 mine workers who have been on strike across the country’s platinum heartland, industry spokeswoman Charmane Russell said Friday.

Union bosses are due to resume talks with mine bosses after the holiday weekend ends on Tuesday.

However, the head of the powerful Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, Jeffrey Mphahlele, told The Wall Street Journal that the latest offer falls short of their original demand for a basic monthly wage of 12,000 South African rand ($1,139.25).

Although the companies have said they are prepared to offer the union’s members a wage package worth ZAR12,500, Mr. Mphahlele disputed that headline figure, saying it had been swelled by including benefits to which workers were already entitled.

“It’s not an improved offer,” Mr. Mphahlele said. “It’s like a rubber band. You can stretch it, but when you let go, it returns to the same shape.”

South Africa’s platinum mines—and its economy—have been damaged by waves of strikes in recent years, while prices of the metal, used mainly to build emmissions-curbing catalytic converters in cars, have risen more than 6% since the beginning of the year.

Deep-set tensions, some linked to grievances from South Africa’s apartheid past, lie at the heart of the dispute between Mr. Mphahlele’s union and the mining companies.

While the union continues to press for wages that are closer to those paid for similar work in Australia or Canada, the mining industry has balked, saying their demands are unaffordable and couldn’t be sustained.

Though the country ordinarily accounts for about 80% of the world’s platinum reserves and is its biggest supplier, production of the precious metal has nearly halved as a result of the latest strike, which began Jan. 23.

In a statement last month, Anglo American, Impala and Lonmin said the “unprecedented” stoppages were causing “irreparable” damage to the sector and had cost them nearly $1 billion in lost revenue.

Anglo American Platinum has warned that if the strikes continue it would consider closing more of its marginal mines.