Workers down tools at Gold One’s Modder East mine ? Friday March, 26, 2010
The entire work force of Gold One’s Modder East Operations in South Africa downed tools on Tuesday as part of strike over wages. Spokesman for the South Africa Union of Mines, Lesiba Seshoka, said that these workers did not qualify for reconstruction and development programme houses or for housing loans from banks. Seshoka said that negotiations had been ongoing since last year and that an agreement could not be reached, as a result of Gold One ‘s "unwillingness" to pay living-out allowances. "The company even admitted to the public that it did not have a housing policy or subsidy for workers, which is why shacks are mushrooming adjacent to the mine's premises. Workers need a place to spend their spare time," said Seshoka. Spokesperson FOR Gold One, Ilja Graulich, said the company had been in constant negotiations with the workers and had offered them a two-year agreement in line with its peers in the gold sector and the guidelines of the South African Chamber of Mines. According to Seshoka, the workers preferred to enter a shorter, more flexible agreement to account for inflation. "Gold One is trying to tie us down, but the workers would prefer to enter an agreement that can change as economic circumstances change," he said. Meanwhile, Gold One CEO Neal Froneman warned in January already that the outlook for the company's Modder East operations to achieve production of 15 000 oz of gold in the March quarter was not guaranteed, owing to the wage talks that could be a disruptive process. Graulich said that it was difficult to measure the full extent of the strike, because only one shift had effectively been lost at midday on Wednesday. He added that Gold One and NUM would resume talks later in the day. "Hopefully we will be able to iron-out the issues, and determine a way forward." Seshoka on his part said that the workers would return to work as soon as the issues were resolved.
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