* Union expects end to six-week strike at Amplats
* Pressure eases on Zuma as strikes wind down
* Reports of violence at union march
By Sherilee Lakmidas and Jon Herskovitz
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Workers have reached a deal
with Anglo American Platinum to reinstate 12,000 miners sacked
for an illegal strike, which could end the last big industrial
action that has rocked South Africa’s massive mining sector.
Months of often violent wildcat strikes have cut production
in the platinum and gold sectors, raising concerns about slowing
economic growth as well as awkward questions about President
Jacob Zuma’s management of the most damaging labour strife since
the end of apartheid in 1994.
“They agreed to reinstate all the dismissed workers on the
provision that they return to work by Tuesday,” Lesiba Seshoka,
spokesman for the powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM),
told Reuters on Saturday.
Seshoka said he expected workers would return to their posts
and “that will mean the end of the strike”.
Anglo American Platinum, or Amplats, said in a
separate statement it had reached the deal with several unions
and offered sweeteners such as a one-off hardship payment of
2,000 rand ($230) to facilitate the return. The strike has
lasted about six weeks and crippled production.
Continued…
