Coal of Africa labourers begin a legal strike over wage figures today, as the mining related unrest continues to spread around South Africa playing havoc with the economy.
Despite the strike at theMooiplaats collierylocated at Ermelo in Mpumalanga province only starting today, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange has already recorded an almighty 18 percent drop in the company’s share prices – the lowest rate to date since the company opened on the JSE in 2006. Shares were listed at 1.85 rand ($ 0.22) this afternoon – a 17.78 percent fall.
The strike comes as the next in a wave of strikes plaguing the South African mining sector since the infamous settlement of the Lonmin mine deal last week. As Lonmin granted its illegally striking workers between 11 and 22 percent pay package increases following wide-spread violent protests, the sector unanimously geared up for wide-spread strikes in response to the unprecedented high wage raise.
One by one mining companies have seen mostly illegal strikes commence – notably Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Anglogold Ashanti and Goldfields are currently struggling under strikers’ pressure -, with the labour force now demanding that employers meet the pay levels settled by Lonmin.
The Coal of Africa strike is in fact a protected legal strike, with 176 of the 368 labourers at Mooiplaats being members of the National Union of Miners (NUM). Workers and employer alike have followed official protocol, and attempts at mediation have been made, however the company today announced that: “Unfortunately the mediation process was not successful and resulted in the workers proceeding with strike action today. Consequently the operations at the colliery have stopped”.
While the exact demands of the striking workers have been made public, Coal of Africa in its statement today did disclose that: “The company proposed a fair wage and benefit offer which amounted to an increase of 22 percent” – this offer having been rejected by the miners. As such it appears that the Coal of Africa workers are aiming for an increase even higher than that awarded at Lonmin, which may mean that the strike will take some time to resolve.
This does not bode well for the company which produces an average 6,000 run of mine tonnes per day and will suffer significant losses if work halts for multiple days. However the company did announce that it would be applying the rule of no work no pay to striking employees, which may prompt a swift conclusion to the miners’ action.
