[ 2012-08-25 ]

Lonmin says 57% of workers turn up at mine shaft
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Platinum giant Lonmin said
nearly 60 percent of workers reported for duty on
Saturday at one of its two sets of shafts as it
sought an accord to end a labour dispute that has
claimed 44 lives.

"Eastern Shafts are working this weekend and we
have 57 percent attendance across these shafts.
The rest of the mine is closed as this is their
off-weekend," Lonmin said in a statement.

Lonmin, the world's third largest platinum firm,
said it would spend the weekend persuading the
workers to return to the job following the
nation's deadliest police action since apartheid.

"It's quite good news that 57 percent of the
workers in this section pitched up," a spokeswoman
Sue Vey told AFP.

The company did not give numbers of the workers on
duty.

On Friday, Lomnin reported only about 24 percent
of its 28,000 work force at Marikana signed in.

It said talks were ongoing to find a "common
ground among all stakeholders."

"We continue to communicate with our employees to
reassure them that we are all working together to
bring resolution and we encourage them to come
back to work."

Workers are demanding a wage increase to 12,500
rand ($1,500, 1,200 euros), claiming they
currently earn only 4,000 rand.

But according to figures released by Lonmin on
Friday, when bonuses and other allowances are
included, the rock drill operators who launched
the strike earn an average of 9,813 rand before
taxes.

On Friday Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant met
with union representatives in Rustenburg, the main
city in the platinum belt in the north of the
country where police gunned down 34 workers
outside Lonmin's Marikana mine more than a week
ago.

About 3,000 rock drill operators at the Lonmin
mine launched the illegal strike on August 10. It
quickly degenerated into clashes with
non-strikers.

Ten people including two policemen were killed in
the unrest, leading to the crackdown on August 16,
when police gunned down 34 armed miners.

Police insist that they used teargas first and
only opened fire after miners shot at them. The
miners say they were armed only with spears,
machetes and clubs.

Source - AFP

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