JOHANNESBURG, May 16 (Reuters) - Members of South Africa'sAssociation of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) will onThursday begin meetings to decide on pay demands for platinumcompanies as wage talks loom, a spokesman said on Monday.
Manzini Zungu said the union's branches would put forwardtheir wage demands which would be consolidated at national levelahead of talks with Anglo American Platinum (Amplats),Impala Platinum and Lonmin .
The existing two-year wage deal between the companies andunions expires at the end of next month.
Platinum companies are still reeling from the effects of arecord five-month strike in 2014 led by AMCU - the biggest unionin the sector - when it sought a more than doubling in wages to12,500 rand ($800). In the end, the workers settled for raisesof around 20 percent annually.
The lengthy strike, pay increases and low commodity pricesforced firms to cut thousands of jobs, sell mines and delayprojects. Amplats sold off its Rustenberg mines to Sibanye Gold to focus more on its mechanised mines.
The mining firms have said that unaffordable increases couldtrigger job losses which are a thorny issue in South Africa,which holds local polls in August and where unemployment reachedits highest level on record in the first quarter.
Lonmin's CEO Ben Magara said he did not anticipate furtherjob cuts for now, but added conditions may change.
Zungu however said companies could not use the threat of jobcuts to intimidate workers from asking for salary increases.
"In wage talks, we are going to negotiate for our membersfully aware of the situation and knowing that the threat of jobcuts is a lifetime threat that doesn't go away," Zungu said.
"Our members are just looking for a living wage so that theycan own houses and take kids to university."
The National Union of Mineworkers, the second biggest unionin the sector, said it had not yet started on the process to setwage demands for its members.
($1 = 15.6015 rand) (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala and Tanisha Heiberg; Editing byJames Macharia)
