(Adds details, AMCU comment)
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 5 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Impala
Platinum, the world’s second-largest platinum producer,
said on Wednesday it had received fresh wage demands from the
militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union
(AMCU).
Implats spokeswoman Alice Lourens confirmed the demand but
could not disclose details.
A senior AMCU official said the demand, if true, was coming
from the rank and file and not from the national office.
“Implats does not recognize us. If workers are doing that,
they are doing that on their own,” General Secretary Jeff
Mphahlehle told Reuters.
A turf war between AMCU and the National Union of
Mineworkers (NUM) closed the world’s largest platinum mine, run
by Implats, for 6 weeks earlier this year.
The rivalry is also behind a wave of violence that killed 44
people last month near Lonmin’s Marikana mine. Lonmin
operations have been shut for almost a month and talks forged
ahead on Wednesday to end the impasse.
South Africa’s mining industry is being sucked into a
vicious circle as labour unrest spreads from platinum to gold
with steep wage demands neither sector can afford.
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by David Dolan)
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