[miningmx.com] – STRIKE action affecting three-quarters of South African platinum production would kick off this week after members of the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU) voted in favour of a walkout at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats).
This would add to planned walkouts already agreed to by AMCU members at Lonmin and Impala Platinum, said Bloomberg News which was reporting from Rustenberg where Joseph Mathunjwa, president of AMCU, met with thousands of workers.
“Tomorrow they’re going to be served with the notice, as per the mandate,’ Mathunjwa told the newswire service. The strike will start on the first shift January 23, Mathunjwa said, referring to Anglo American Platinum, Impala and Lonmin.
He also said gold companies where the AMCU has members will be served with strike notices tomorrow which would include Kusasalethu, a gold mine owned by Harmony Gold, Sibanye Gold’s Driefontein and Kloof and AngloGold Ashanti’s Tau Tona.
AMCU has kicked off its strike action two days after the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) agreed a 9.5% increase for entry-level workers at Northam Platinum’s Zondereinde mine.
“The target has now been set and AMCU will push Amplats, Impala and Lonmin to better it,’ Michael Kavanagh, a Noah Capital Markets analyst in Cape Town, told Bloomberg News.
