1 700 workers start strike 2.4km below Harmony mine

Binary_Bark

Binary_Bark

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Cape Town – About 1 700 miners refused to return to the surface of Harmony Gold’s [JSE:HAR] Kusasalethu mine in the West Rand on Wednesday, with the miner saying they have embarked on an illegal sit-in.

“Harmony Gold confirms that around 1 700 employees are participating in an illegal sit-in at the company’s Kusasalethu mine near Carletonville,” the company said in a statement.

“The sit-in started on Wednesday, January 11 when employees chose not to return to surface at the end of the morning shift.

“No formal demands have been made by the participating employees.

“Management has sought to engage with union leadership with the purpose of resolving the matter and returning all employees to surface,” it said.

The mineworkers gathered at level 73, which is 2.4km below the surface of the mine, a Harmony spokesperson told Fin24.

The National Union of Mineworkers said via Twitter on Thursday that it is trying to establish what the workers’ demands are, while the Associated Mineworkers and Construction Union has yet to make a statement and has not responded to media queries.

Harmony Gold, whose three-year wage agreement with labour unions expires in 2018, has been ramping up production so that it can halt mining in five years.

"We’re now looking at harvesting the mine in the next five years," CEO Peter Steenkamp said in August, Bloomberg reported.

“Harmony has been trying to turn around performance at Kusasalethu, which employs about 4 500 people, for at least the last three years as the company battled low grades, fires, illegal mining and labour disruptions,” Bloomberg explained.

Harmony Gold was trading 2.62% higher at 11:00 on Thursday at R33.30.
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And so the striking season starts
 
Just close the mine. They can stay or not. Upto them really
 
Quite a smart move from them really albeit not a comfortable one... They are forcing the mine to a halt and there will be plenty of pressure from the outside world for the mine to look after the idiots. I remember how the mine sent food to the strikers when they striked in the pit at Kumba Iron ore in Sishen.
 
I wonder how long this will take before the mine management is called heartless for leaving them there...
 
The_Librarian said:
just send them KFC laced with brooklax

&

send them the bill for the food & cleanup operations.
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I like it!

they can also just erect a KFC stall above surface and send down KFC vouchers with instructions on where to redeem them. When they come up just prevent them from going back down again.
 
or, better still, keep the air circulation on, but switch off all the lights

then when their batteries have run out, start playing sounds from DOOM and other scary games

and also start playing scary movies without the video, just sounds... :D
 
The_Librarian said:
or, better still, keep the air circulation on, but switch off all the lights

then when their batteries have run out, start playing sounds from DOOM and other scary games

and also start playing scary movies without the video, just sounds... :D
Click to expand...

All it will take is one snake, in the dark..... :)
 
Amcu enters the fray at Harmony Gold sit-in, miners resurface

JOHANNESBURG – The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) says all workers who had staged a sit-in at Harmony Gold’s Kusasalethu mine near Carltonville have ended their strike following talks with management.

About 1,700 miners spent two nights underground demanding that Harmony Gold make good on its promise to pay them bonuses.

Amcu says while it did not organise the sit-in, management should take responsibility for the strike.

The union’s Joseph Mathunjwa has confirmed that the mineworkers resurfaced in the early hours of Friday morning.

Mathunjwa says the workers' dispute is linked to special bonuses that Harmony Gold promised to them last year.
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More at: http://ewn.co.za/2017/01/13/amcu-enters-the-fray-at-harmony-gold-sit-in-miners-resurface
 
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