Amcu strike at Sibanye ends
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) ended its five-month long strike after reaching an agreement with Sibanye-Stillwater on Wednesday.
The trade union held a joint press briefing with mining Sibanye in Westonaria.
The union embarked on the strike in November 2018 over wage disputes.
Amcu previously opposed the three-year wage agreement that the National Union of Metalworkers (NUM), Solidarity and UASA, had already signed - which allows for salaries to increase by R650 for the first year, R700 the second and R825 for the third year.
The multi-year agreement includes wage increases will be in line with 2018 collective gold wage agreement, R5,000 loan advance upon request and an additional ex-gratia payment of R4,000 to all gold employees
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Amcu's president Joseph Mathunjwa says there was no political pressure to sign the agreement.
"There was no political pressure for us to sign an agreement with Sibanye because we will not allow any political interference. The decision was solely based on the plight of and mandate from our members whom we serve."
Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman echoed the sentiments, saying there was political concern but not interference.
"But I can assure you there was no interference, there was obvious concern about the length of the strike, the damages causing to the economy and quite honestly those are very appropriate concerns.
"I can honestly say Joseph and myself engaged by ourselves and resolved this without any political interference. We just did what is right for our stakeholders."
Mathunjwa says worker are expected back at work next week.
"Workers are expected back at work next week but the mine is sensitive to not all miners returning all at once as proper reintegration procedures need to apply."
The two parties say they will now work towards developing a more constructive relationship.