(MENAFN- AFP) A wage agreement to end a five-month strike at the world's biggest platinum mines in South Africa will be signed Tuesday, a union official said.
Workers represented by the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) accepted the wage offer by Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin on Monday.
"The signing will take place at 1 pm (1100 GMT)," said AMCU general secretary Jimmy Gama.
The producers gave no details about the signing ceremony, which the union said would be held in Johannesburg.
The stoppages, the longest in South Africa's mining history, hit platinum production in the world's top exporting country, with companies reporting a combined loss of 23.8 billion rand ($2.24 billion) in earnings.
AMCU leader Joseph Mathunjwa said Monday the companies had "agreed to the bulk of our demands", with the deal expected to increase wages for the lowest paid workers at Impala platinum by some 1,000 rand ($95) a month for two years and by 950 rand in the third year.
The increases offered by the three companies differ according to various worker categories and full details of the agreement were expected to be revealed after the signing.
Workers had demanded that their basic wages be almost doubled to 12,500 rand ($1,180).
Mathunjwa acknowledged that not all workers would reach that level within three years, but added that "many will easily reach it".
The demand for 12,500 rand was at the centre of a deadly strike at Lonmin in 2012, where 34 mineworkers were shot dead by police in one day at Marikana.
On January 23, more than 70,000 workers downed tools for the same demand and better benefits, with government intervention last month failing to yield results.
The strike helped push the country's economy into contraction in the first quarter of this year for the first time since the global economic crisis five years ago.
Workers are expected to return to work on Wednesday.
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