Trade union Solidarity issued world number one platinum miner Anglo Platinum with a 48-hour strike notice on Tuesday, said Solidarity spokesperson Reint Dykema.
AngloPlat spokesperson Mike Mtakati wasn’t available to confirm that the group had received a strike notice from Solidarity.
On Monday, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) issued AngloPlat with a strike notice — the strike is to start at 2pm on Wednesday.
While Solidarity’s strike only officially starts on 09h00 on Thursday, Dykema said, effectively it will start on Wednesday afternoon when the NUM members down tools, as this will bring AngloPlat’s operations to a halt, he added.
“Workers at AngloPlat are preparing for a massive strike that is to commence under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), on Wednesday. Workers will strike because AngloPlat, at national negotiations, offered them a salary increase of only 7% and a long service allowance of 0,5%,” Solidarity said.
Solidarity is demanding a salary increase of 8%.
The wage increase that Solidarity is seeking is effective from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005.
The NUM first referred its wage dispute with AngloPlat to the CCMA on August 17, 2004.
Trade unions involved in the negotiations also demanded that workers performing the same work should be appointed at the same level, Solidarity said.
The historic imbalance at AngloPlat mines, which dates from the pre-1994 era, is a source of great dissatisfaction among the entire work force, since workers in the same posts do not receive the same pay, Solidarity said.
“Such imbalances in the workplace cannot be tolerated and the trade unions are strongly opposed to it,” the union added.
The demand for workers in the same posts to perform the same work and to receive the same pay will also be brought to the attention of the public, the union said.
Striking workers plan to paralyse all mining activities at AngloPlat, including all the mines as well as the refinery, which is the heart of the group’s operation, the trade union said.
Solidarity said that the trade unions that have received strike certificates from the CCMA include: Solidarity, the NUM, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), Commercial Workers Union of South Africa (CWUSA), the Mouthpiece Workers Union and Togetherness Amalgamated Workers Union of South Africa (Tawusa). – I-Net Bridge