Published: 07 October 2013

THE biggest union representative gold and platinum mine workers has said it would ask employers to as much as double pay for some members warning of a potentially bloody showdown if their demands are not met.

The smallest increase sought is 50 percent, the Associated Mine Workers Union of Zimbabwe said in a wage-talks circular dated October 1 with negotiations starting in the first week of November. The country's annual inflation rate was 1.3 percent in August.

Demands for higher wages from operators including Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum Holdings, come amid a drop in commodity prices and pressure for the companies to cede a majority share of their local assets to black Zimbabweans or the government.

Zimbabwe has the world's biggest platinum and chrome reserves after South Africa, as well as diamond, gold and coal deposits.

"All sectors in the industry are fast losing patience and they want their salaries raised," Amwuz President Tinago Ruzive said in an interview.

"Employers in the gold sector are saying they are not making money, but our members are saying enough is enough, they can’t subsidize the employers anymore."

The lowest-paid miners get basic wages of $227 monthly, Ruzive said.

The union wants salaries to be increased to $560 a month for those in the gold and chrome industries. It is demanding a raise to $1,000 from $500 to $600 monthly for diamond-mine employees, and wants platinum-industry workers to get an increase of as much as 50 percent from $400-$500 now.

Amwuz represents 20,000 people, Ruzive said.

"If things don't improve, we will have another Marikana here," he said, referring to a 2012 strike at the Lonmin Plc mine in South Africa turned violent and resulted in the deaths of at least 44 workers, including 34 killed by police on August 16.
- Bloomberg