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Johannesburg - A round of talks between the platinum
industry and unions was expected to continue this week.
Platinum bosses and unions will meet at the Chamber of Mines
on Monday for negotiations.
It was hope the talks would result in an agreement which
would resolve the strikes by the end of the month.
The appeals for 12 000 workers fired from Anglo Platinum
[JSE:AMS] (Amplats) for participating in the unprotected strike, were postponed
to Wednesday.
NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said on Saturday that the union
had not yet made a decision on whether to appeal on its members' behalf.
First, it wanted to see what the outcome of the Chamber of
mines meeting would be.
Amplats announced it had fired 12 000 striking workers on
Friday.
"Disciplinary hearings for striking Rustenburg mine
employees have been completed and affected employees will be informed of the
outcome of the hearings today," it said in a statement.
Employees would have three working days to appeal..
There were indications on Friday that some strikes could
soon be resolved.
Petra Kimberley Diamond Mine and AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG]
were waiting to see whether striking workers would return to work.
Petra spokesperson Gert Klopper said operations were
expected to normalise with the night shift on Sunday after an agreement was
reached on Friday.
He said the contents of the agreement would not be disclosed to the media as "we regard those as internal matters".
Workers at Petra's Kimberley mine embarked on an underground sit-in on Tuesday, which halted operations.
Workers at the company's mine near Koffiefontein, in the
southern Free State, also joined the strike, but Friday's agreement covered all
Petra mines.
There was also no clear indication of whether striking
mineworkers at AngloGold Ashanti's Mponeng mine would return to work as
requested, spokesperson Alan Fine said.
"We will only be able to see when the night shift is
scheduled to start work," spokesperson Alan Fine said.
Workers downed tools on September 25, demanding monthly
salaries of R18 500.
At Kumba Iron Ore's Sishen mine about 300 wildcat strikers continued with a sit-in, demanding an increase of R15 000 for all staff, spokesperson Gert Schoeman said.
Kumba suspended production at Sishen Mine on Thursday due to
the strikers blocking access to the pit, creating an unsafe environment for
mining operations.
Gold One International [JSE:GDO] and Gold Fields [JSE:GFI]
remained quiet on Sunday.
Spokesperson Grant Stuart said there had been no violence
over the weekend, after the suspension of around 1 400 striking workers.
The company initially intended holding disciplinary hearings
over participation in the unprotected strike on Friday, but postponed the hearings
to Monday at the request of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
Gold Fields spokesperson Sven Lunsche said all the company's
mines were quiet.
"The night shift starts at 9pm but we don't expect
workers to show up. We are also not sure if they will return to the
hostels."
Workers embarked on an illegal strike last month at the Gold Fields KDC West mine in Carletonville and Beatrix mines, demanding a monthly pay of R12 500 after deductions.
