Oldest Mine accused of paying its workers peanuts

BARBERTON – Mine workers from one of the oldest gold mines in the country, Barberton Mine, are alleged to be one of the most underpaid employees in the industry regardless their skills and input to the economy of the country.

This has been brought to Mpumalanga News’ attention by the National Union of Mineworkers (Num). “Skilled employees are paid only R8 400 while the non-skilled employees receives only R5 600 which is far less than the living wage. As a union we were negotiation with the employer for at minimum wage of at least R7 000 for the less-paid employees,” says Num chairperson, Mr Makhosonkhe Magudulela.

“As a union we say workers needs an entry level of R7 000,” he adds.This newspaper also learnt from the over 2 000 mine employees 85% of them affiliates to Num, a figure which was also equivalent to the estimated figure illiteracy among employees of this mine.

Mpumalanga News also learnt that there was a promotional policy at this mine. An employee who spoke on condition of anonymity said the strike only lasted two days after which the
employer offered an increase of R1 000 for each employee, which meant that the lowest-paid worker would now receive R6 500 while the highest paid person would get around R9 400 per month.