Production was brought to a halt at Kumba’s three largest mines in South Africa on the third day of a strike by the trade unions Solidarity, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (Numsa) and Building Allied Mining and Construction Workers’ Union (BAMCWU), Solidarity said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Production has been brought to a halt at the Grootegeluk, Sishen and Thabazimbi mines, while operations at Leeuwpan, Glen Douglas and Tsikondeni have also been severely affected,” the statement said.
Solidarity added that it had appealed to the Kumba CEO, Con Fauconnier, to meet with the trade unions on Wednesday when talks between Kumba management and
the trade unions were to be resumed.
“Workers want an explanation from Fauconnier of his 35% increase last year, while they are offered only 7% this year,” said Solidarity spokesperson Reint Dykema.
“It is important for Fauconnier to engage with senior trade union leadership to resolve the crisis,” Dykema added.
According to Solidarity, around 6 000 workers are taking part in the strike.
“This year will be the last time for negotiations to be conducted under the Kumba banner, since the company will soon be unbundling into Exxaro and the Sishen Iron Ore Company.
“Solidarity also handed a strike memorandum to Kumba today [Tuesday]. The memorandum points out that the workers’ cost of living keeps rising while their
remuneration lags behind,” the statement concluded.
Trevor Arran, the general manager for corporate affairs and investor relations at Kumba Resources, said that production had been affected at all the mines named by Solidarity in its statement. He said however, that the company had stockpiles and deliveries to customers were “on track”.
As regards the effect of the strike on production, Arran said that the company was still collating figures as to the exact numbers and may have the figures “later in the day”. – I-Net Bridge