South African mining trade union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), is preparing to submit its wage demands before the coal and gold mining companies by the end of this month.
NUM general secretary Frans Baleni told Reuters that the union will submit its demands to employers towards the end this even though the wage agreements signed for a period of two-years in both sectors expires in June 2015.
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With an intention to prepare a rough draft of the demands, the national bargaining conference of NUM plans to meet soon and seek approval of the members before preparing the final version.
According to data from an industry website, Gold Wage Negotiations For the Gold Industry 2015, the union represents 57% of the workforce in the gold sector.
The mining industry in South Africa has yet to recover from a five-month strike in 2014, called by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), the NUM rival, at the major platinum producers.
In the gold sector, AMCU represents around 25% of workers.
NUM is affiliated internationally with the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions.
Founded in 1982, it has a membership of 300,000 and is the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
During the 1980s, the union campaigned for the end of the job reservation system, which ensured that the best-paid jobs were allocated to whites.
