Relief for miners in underground wage protest
STRIKING miners in the Northern Cape have finally been allowed to receive water and medication after spending several days underground in a wage protest.
At least 67 miners at the Petra Diamonds’ Finsch mine‚ northwest of Kimberley‚ have been staging an underground protest since Monday.
The employees‚ who include women and people who take chronic medication‚ are all members of the National Mineworkers Union (NUM).
Finsch Mine NUM deputy branch secretary Tebogo Kgomongwe said the legal strike would continue until agreement was reached.
“The mine only took medication down yesterday after negotiations,” Kgomongwe said.
“We were not allowed access to take food and water for the comrades but‚ after we negotiated‚ they allowed us to see them.”
After NUM declared a wage dispute with the company‚ the two parties failed to reach agreement‚ prompting the union to launch the strike.
“What angered the 67 members who refuse to come out was when Petra Diamonds threatened to withhold the bonuses that are due to be paid at the end of this month,” Kgomongwe said.
“The company has also threatened to retrench them.”
Demands by NUM members include a wage increment of 10% annually across the board for three years‚ housing subsidies and medical aid allowances.
Last week, more than 150 miners engaged in similar underground protests at eKapa Mines in Kimberley.
Regional NUM organiser Orapeleng Moraladi said 78 miners were protesting at Wesselton Shaft and 80 at Joint Shaft.