The coal mine strike over low salaries continued on Tuesday with no end in sight, trade union Solidarity said.
"The people are still striking. There is no indication from the Chamber of Mines or from the strikers that they want to end the strike," said spokesperson Reint Dykema.
About 3 500 Solidarity members started striking at coal mines around the country on Monday over an inadequate pay offer, particularly for artisans.
Dykema said the same number continued to strike on Tuesday.
He said production had been disrupted at some of the mines, but that the two large producers Anglo Coal and Exxaro were particularly "hard hit".
Continues Below ↓
The mines were in the Mpumalanga and Gauteng area.
Dykema said members were unhappy with the lower categories of workers being offered a 10 percent increase and artisans eight percent.
Solidarity is demanding a 10 percent increase for miners, artisans and officials for this year and for next year.
The Chamber is offering an increase of between 7,5 and 8,5 percent.
Chamber of Mines spokesperson Jabu Maphalala said while no formal negotiations had been set up between the union and the Chamber, non-formal talks were underway.
"There have been talks about some of the issues but nothing has been resolved as yet [noon on Tuesday]."
He said the mines had suffered minimal production loss since the start of the strike.
"From our assessment yesterday [Monday] the impact of the strike has been minimal so far," he said.
Meanwhile, The Freedom Front Plus (FF-Plus) has called on the Minister of Minerals and Energy to intervene.
FF Plus spokesperson Willie Spies said in a statement that the situation was "threatening to create the umpteenth energy crisis this year".
"The FF Plus has just heard that the provision of coal to three power stations, Matla, Kriel and Hendrina could from today [Tuesday] be negatively affected," he said.
He said there was some concern about Eskom's sufficient capacity to provide the demand for coal.
On Monday Eskom spokesperson Fani Zulu said that coal would be trucked to the three power stations in Mpumalanga and Gauteng if the need arose.
Spies said the minister had a duty to intervene in labour disputes which endangered the economy.
"Last week's fuel crisis is still fresh in the memory of consumers and a further power crisis this week could just be the straw that breaks the camel's back," he said. - Sapa
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
