Workers' strike at DRDGOLD’s ERGO operations suspended

DRDGOLD has announced that planned strike action at its Ergo Mining (ERGO) operations has been suspended, allowing operations to continue uninterrupted.

Ergo Mining is a major surface gold tailings retreatment operation extending from central Johannesburg to Ekurhuleni in the east, treating around 1.7 million tons of material.

In a statement on Thursday, the gold producer said it had been notified late on Wednesday by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) that their members’ intended protected strike action would not proceed at this stage.

The strike had been due to begin with the morning shift on Thursday. The notice followed the finalisation of picketing rules under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) earlier this month.

The company had previously advised that it had received 48 hours’ notice from NUM and Amcu of their intention to embark on protected industrial action over a wage and profit-share dispute at ERGO.

The NUM and Amcu have maintained a demand for a double-digit wage increase of 12% across the board and additional profit-related benefits. Trade union Uasa accepted and signed the wage agreement for its members on Friday.

DRDGOLD said these demands remain more than three times inflation with consumer inflation at 3.6% and significantly above agreements recently concluded across the gold sector.

Wage negotiations at ERGO began in July. Since then, the company and organised labour have resolved 23 of the 25 demands tabled at the outset of the process. The two remaining issues relate to wages and profit share.

ERGO tabled an offer that included guaranteed annual increases of between 6% – 7.5% for each of the next five years, the continuation of a profit-share schemes, a new and additional 2% performance-based incentive, and improvements to the Living Out Allowance and increases to the interest-free housing support scheme.

"This offer provides real, multi-year financial benefit to employees while allowing the company to continue reinvesting in long-term projects to extend the operational life of ERGO. This balance is essential to safeguarding jobs and supporting the future viability of the business," DRDGOLD had said.

Despite the suspension of the strike, DRDGOLD said the underlying dispute remains unresolved.

ERGO was anticipating daily throughput rates of approximately 40 000 tons per day as a result of industrial action, as opposed to planned 54 000 tons per day, assuming no criminal disruption or intimidation were to occur. 

DRDGOLD maintained that its wage offer is fair, competitive and sustainable, noting that it delivers meaningful improvements to employee remuneration, exceeds current inflation, and is aligned with recent wage agreements concluded in the gold sector.

The miner added that the offer also preserves its ability to reinvest in the long-term sustainability of the ERGO operations.

“The company remains open to further engagement and encourages a resolution that avoids unnecessary financial harm to employees and disruption to operations,” DRDGOLD said, also confirming that operations at ERGO were continuing uninterrupted.

BUSINESS REPORT