Johannesburg - Striking miners of Village Main Reef's Consolidated Murchison mine (ConsMurch) antimony/gold mine in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, are set to lose their jobs.
The company obtained a court interdict on Wednesday permitting it to dismiss over 900 miners who have embarked on an unprotected strike.
“Regrettably, attempts so far to engage the strikers in dialogue through their representative union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), have failed to resolve the matter,” said the company in a statement.
The unprotected strike began as a sit-in by about 100 miners on July 12.
The workers were demanding a lump sum payout from an Employee Share Trust, or that they receive dividend payments as participants in the Trust.
The company, however, said ConsMurch had not yet been in a position to return investments.
It said the miners had illegally blocked access to the mine’s Monarch Decline Shaft and endangering both assets and their own lives.
“These employees are in effective control of the shaft and are preventing negotiators from accessing the underground employees.”
The company said negotiations were continuing between management and NUM officials with in a bid to bring an end to the strike.
NUM said it would respond later. - Sapa