Striking Lonmin miners take 22% pay rise offer
Workers at Lonmin’s Marikana mine have accepted a 22% overall pay increase to end more than five weeks of deadly strikes. The agreement reached Tuesday also includes a once-off payment of $250 (2,000 rand) to partly make up for what they didn’t get paid while being on strike, said Bishop Joe Seoka, a member of the negotiating team. World number one platinum producer Anglo American Platinum said it had resumed its operations in the strike-hit Rustenburg area.
See http://www.mining.com/striking-lonmin-miners-take-22-pay-rise-offer-61119/?utm_source=digest-en-mining-120918&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digest.
Army deployed to “crack down” on mineworkers’ dissent
As South Africa’s Congress of trade unions (COSATU) meets this week’ to discuss the explosive aftermath of the recent Marikana massacre, there’s no indication that relationships between the two main competing mineworkers unions will impove. On the contrary – according to an analyst,who formerly worked for COSATU: “We’re entering a period with extreme labor instability.” Ominously, as the turmoil continued last weekend, Reuters reports that the government deployed members of the armed forces in the mining areas. Meanwhile, low-paid workers, at the centre of the protests which led to the police killing 34 men last month, have scaled down their wage hike demand.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11912.
Lonmin deal pressures other South Africa mining firms
A violent six-week strike at world No. 3 platinum producer Lonmin has come to an end with a hefty wage settlement that could stir more strife in South Africa’s restive mining sector.
See http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/uk-safrica-mining-idUKBRE88I09L20120919.