A threatened strike at DRDGold’s Ergo Mining operations on the East Rand has been suspended, but the fight over wages and profit sharing for staff is far from over.
Image: DRDGold
A threatened strike at DRDGold’s Ergo Mining operations on the East Rand has been suspended, but the fight over wages and profit sharing for staff is far from over.
The National Union of Mineworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union pulled their 48-hour strike notice just hours before it was set to start.
As a result, DRDGold’s operation to reclaim gold from old mine dumps near Johannesburg continues.
This threatened strike is the most prominent documented mining industrial action event for the year, but its suspension meant operations at the surface gold tailings retreatment plant continued without disruption.
DRDGold is the oldest company still listed on the JSE, having offered its shares to the public in 1895.
Its operations have shifted over time, and it is now pulling gold dust out of mine dumps, which were the result of more than a century of mining and dumping the leftover dirt on the edges of mines.
Initially, DRDGold, formerly Durban Roodepoort Deep, operated underground mines before transitioning completely from deep-level underground mining to the large-scale retreatment of mine dumps and tailings dams.
The dispute comes after months of negotiations that began in July. Of the 25 issues on the table, 23 have been resolved, leaving only wages and profit-sharing to be agreed upon.
The unions are pushing for a 12% pay increase plus additional profit-related benefits, far above recent sector agreements.
DRDGold has offered guaranteed annual increases of between 6% and 7.5% over the next five years, continued participation in its profit‑sharing scheme, a new performance-based incentive, and improved housing and living allowances.
It describes its offer as fair, competitive and sustainable.
“The offer delivers meaningful improvements to employee remuneration, is well above current inflation, aligned with recent wage agreements concluded in the gold sector, and preserves the company's ability to reinvest in the long-term sustainability of the ERGO operations,” it said.
DRDGold added that it “remains open to further engagement and encourages a resolution that avoids unnecessary financial harm to employees and disruption to operations”.
The United Association of South Africa signed the agreement earlier this month, leaving only the National Union of Mineworkers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union at odds with the company.
DRDGold said it remains open to engagement to avoid any disruption while ensuring the business and employees are protected.
For now, the tailings plant keeps running, but the wage standoff is far from settled, with talks set to continue into the new year.
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