Morning Star.png
South Africa:
Miners March to Save Conditions after Surprise Sale
International Desk, The Morning Star, London, 14 January 2016
South African miners will march to Kimberley Mines today to protest against
threats to their pay and conditions.
The future of 600 workers hangs in the balance after owner De Beers sold the
facility to Ekapa Mining and Petra Diamonds.
De Beers has said it will either close the mine in 2018, change mining
methods to extend its life or sell it on.
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members were outraged to learn of the
deal via the media and not through management consultation with their union.
The march will demand that De Beers halt the sale, pointing out that section
197 of the Labour Relations Act obliges companies to exhaust all options
before downgrading workers' contracts.
NUM regional secretary Cornelius Manhe said: "We believe that De Beers has
got a hidden agenda since it is only known for its bad legacy of extracting
our country's minerals and exploiting our people."
The NUM also slammed the announcement of 700 redundancies by ASA Dilokong
Chrome Mine in Limpopo, with the company refusing to even meet the union to
try to resolve the crisis.
The union pointed out that legislation required the firm to consult the
minerals resources minister before making job cuts of more than 10 per cent.
South Africa's vital minerals and energy industry is suffering badly from
the worldwide downturn in the sector, which the South African Communist
Party has identified as the root cause of violence at the Marikana mine in
2012, in which police shot dead 34 miners at a rally for breakaway union
AMCU, whose members had been accused of killing NUM officials at the mine.
From:
<http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-aaef-South-Africa-Miners-march-to-save
-conditions-after-surprise-sale#.VpciT_l9600>
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-aaef-South-Africa-Miners-march-to-save-
conditions-after-surprise-sale#.VpciT_l9600
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