SAfrica mining union keen to bargain with Angloplat

JOHANNESBURG, June 30 (Reuters) - South Africa's mineworkers union said on Tuesday it would be willing to lower its 15 percent wage increase demand for its members at Anglo Platinum (AMSJ.J) as a trade-off for the company coming close to meeting its other demands.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said Angloplat had offered to raise the monthly minimum wage of surface workers to 4,000 rand ($502.3) and that of underground workers to 4,400, just short of the union's demand of 4,200 and 4,500 rand, respectively.

"Given the good spirit in which they are negotiating, we are prepared to do some trade-offs ... there is no reason we should remain steadfast when the company is prepared to make such a significant move," Seshoka told Reuters.

But the union would still insist on Angloplat, the world's biggest platinum producer, moving beyond the 6.5 percent hike in wages that the company has offered to its members in general wage negotiations thus far.

"That is still below inflation ... they need to definitely move beyond that," he said.

South Africa's last measured inflation stood at 8.0 percent in May.

Wage talks in South Africa's mining sector are closely watched because there is a chance of disruption in output and an impact on metal prices if talks fail and workers go on strike. (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; editing by James Jukwey)