Wrap Text
Union verification exercise supports extension of the wage agreement at Sibanye-Stillwater’s SA gold operations
Sibanye Gold Limited
Trading as Sibanye-Stillwater
Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa
Registration number 2002/031431/06
Share code: SGL
ISIN – ZAE000173951
Issuer code: SGL
(“Sibanye-Stillwater” or “the Group” or “the Company”)
Union verification exercise supports extension of the wage agreement at Sibanye-
Stillwater’s SA gold operations
Johannesburg, 8 April 2019: Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SGL and NYSE: SBGL) is
pleased to report that the independent exercise to verify the movement in union
membership of employees at the SA Gold operations between 22 November 2018 (when
the AMCU strike began) and 18 February 2019 (when the wage agreement signed with
the NUM, UASA or Solidarity was extended) (the “Verification Exercise”), was
concluded on 4 April 2019. The outcome of the Verification Exercise supports
Management’s position that on 18 February 2019, the NUM, UASA and Solidarity
collectively represented the majority of employees at the SA gold operations.
The Company intends to approach the Labour Court to declare the current AMCU
strike unprotected.
Neal Froneman, CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater commenting on the outcome said: The
independent verification exercise, will now form the basis to implement the
extension of the wage agreement in terms of Section 23(1)(d) of the Labour
Relations Act, No 66 of 1995 (“S23(1)(d)”). Our attempts to lawfully end this
strike have been frustrated by ongoing legal challenges by AMCU since mid-
December 2018, which has unnecessarily extended the strike, to the significant
detriment of its members. AMCU has again challenged the outcome of the
Verification Exercise and we again urge AMCU leadership to allow due processes
to be followed in the interest of a peaceful resolution to this strike.
Irrespective of the court outcome we will not entertain a revision to the wage
agreement or any other type of settlement that undermines our other stakeholders”
Ancillary information
In addition to pursuing legal means to end the strike, the company has continued
to engage with AMCU representatives and made several attempts to resolve the
strike, including various proposals provide financial assistance to striking
employees when they return to work.
Proposals which were previously tabled by the Company included inter alia:
- a “soft” loan to employees, on extremely favourable terms to assist employees
financially on their return to work. This loan would be repayable over a
period. The loan has been set at R5,500 per employees, repayable over 12
months with a 3 month repayment holiday;
- a waiver of the Company’s right to claim for ongoing payments made and costs
incurred during the strike. These include ongoing Company contributions to
employee medical aid cover and pension/provident funds, as well as the
provision of accommodation and food, despite the “no work, no pay” principle
applying during the strike;
- free transport for striking employees to return to work once the strike ends,
debt consolidation and financial counselling; and
- an ex-gratia payment (non-repayable), which has been offset against ongoing
payments and costs which have accumulated over the course of the strike.
The continued contribution by the company to medical aid, and the risk portion
towards the pension/provident funds is important to ensure that striking
employees retain these benefits beyond the strike, but the cumulative cost of
these contributions as well as the other costs highlighted, becomes significant
the longer the strike continues, which results in the ex-gratia amount proposed
initially, declining. Effectively, this means that the R4 500 ex-gratia payment
that was proposed in February, decreased to R2 500 in March and has now reduced
to zero. This aspect was made very clear to the AMCU leadership but despite
this, these proposals were formally rejected by AMCU.
The wage agreement signed with NUM, Solidarity and UASA is final and no further
increases will be considered or given as it undermines other stakeholders and
is inconsistent with our CARES values.
Contact:
James Wellsted
Head of Investor Relations
+27 (0) 83 453 4014
Email: ir@sibanyestillwater.com
Sponsor: J.P. Morgan Equities South Africa (Proprietary) Limited
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This announcement includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of
the “safe harbour” provisions of the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by
the use of words such as “target”, “will”, “forecast”, “expect”, “potential”,
“intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “can” and other similar expressions that
predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of
historical matters. The forward-looking statements set out in this
announcement involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the
control of Sibanye-Stillwater, that could cause Sibanye-Stillwater’s actual
results and outcomes to be materially different from historical results or
from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this
announcement. Sibanye-Stillwater undertakes no obligation to update publicly
or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events
or circumstances after the date of this announcement or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events, save as required by applicable law.
Date: 08/04/2019 05:16:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE').
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