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JOHANNESBURG, Sept 5 (Reuters) - South Africa's biggestplatinum mine-workers' union and the industry have failed toreach a deal on workers' pay, the union said on Monday, raisingthe prospect of industrial action in the world's top producer ofthe white metal.
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union(AMCU), which led a crippling five-month strike in 2014, hasbeen in talks with Anglo American Platinum, ImpalaPlatinum and Lonmin since July this year.
"To date no progress has been made," AMCU said in astatement. "The union has therefore officially declareddeadlocks with all three companies."
The companies were not immediately available to comment.
AMCU said it would next week separately meet Impala andAnglo American Platinum to seek a resolution. No meeting withLonmin has been confirmed, it said.
Declaration of a dispute is the first step towards launchinga strike and if next week's meetings fail to find a solution,the dispute would be referred to a government mediator in a bidto break the impasse, failing which AMCU could give the industrya 48-hour notice to down tools.
AMCU is demanding pay hikes of more than 50 percent for itslowest pad members, who home take around 8,000 rand ($557) amonth, and a 15 percent hike for its higher paid members.
The demands are well above inflation at 6 percent.
South Africa has the biggest and most lucrative platinumreserves but labour unrest and regulatory uncertainty havedampened investors' enthusiasm.
The strike in 2014 hit the industry hard, costing it morethan 20 billion rand in lost output and forcing the companies tocut jobs, shed mines and in some cases seek cash from investors.
($1 = 14.3602 rand) (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng and Zandi Shabalala inLondon; Editing by Ed Cropley and Mark Potter)
