* Striking workers’ resolve stiffened by killings
* NUM having trouble using its weight
* Lonmin can sack workers but has held off
By Agnieszka Flak
RUSTENBURG, South Africa, Aug 29 (Reuters) – Feuding South
African unions, platinum producer Lonmin and government
officials tried on Wednesday to broker a peace accord at a mine
where 44 people were killed in the worst such violence since the
end of apartheid.
They also want to use the meeting to start wage talks over
the dispute that has paralysed production at Lonmin’s Marikana
mine and raised worries of unrest spreading through the
country’s platinum sector, further shaking the economy.
Bringing all the parties together to secure a symbolic peace
deal could prove successful, but the strike at Lonmin’s Marikana
mine, northwest of Johannesburg, may be far tougher to resolve.
“If there is no 12,500 rand ($1,500) a month, no workers
will be going back,” Zolisa Bodlani, a representative for the
striking workers, said ahead of the meeting.
Strikers say they have sacrificed too much to settle for
less than their demands. Lonmin said it had an average 7.7
percent attendance across all shafts on Wednesday morning.
Continued…
