Johannesburg - About 2,000 workers affiliated with South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) went on strike at Impala Platinum's Marula mine on Friday demanding higher wages, a company spokesman said.
“We had a work stoppage this morning. We are talking to the union and the workers and trying to resolve it,” spokesman Johan Theron said.
A NUM spokesman in Limpopo, William Mabapa, said the union had not called any strike by its members at Marula, but he acknowledged some miners had not gone to work because of what he called “intimidation” by other workers.
He declined to elaborate.
The labour dispute at Marula mine in northern Limpopo province comes a week after rival union AMCU finally agreed a wage settlement to end a five-month strike by its members at Implats, Lonmin and Anglo American Platinum, the world's three largest producers of the precious metal.
Theron said management had not received any formal demands or memorandum from the Marula workers.
“It does seem like this is in relation with the Amcu settlement and they are unhappy with the wage deal that they got last year,” he added. - Reuters