* NUM signed agreement but AMCU holds out
* NUM hopes for return to work Friday or Monday
* Reports of returning workers being intimidated by strikers
* Lonmin shares jump 5 pct
By Olivia Kumwenda
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 6 (Reuters) – South Africa’s militant
AMCU union refused to sign a “peace deal” with platinum company
Lonmin on Thursday, undermining
government-backed efforts to open pay talks and end a four-week
strike scarred by deadly violence.
While Lonmin, the world’s number three platinum producer,
signed the accord with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
and other labour groups in the early hours, representatives of
the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU)
declined to put their names to the agreement.
AMCU-affiliated miners at the Marikana platinum mine where
police shot dead 34 striking rock-drill operators last month in
the deadliest security incident since the end of apartheid said
they were not interested in a deal that failed to include a
basic wage hike to 12,500 rand ($1,500) a month – double what
they now earn.
“I was there to talk about 12,500 rand, not some peace
accord, so we did not sign any document,” Molefi Phele, who
represented striking workers, told Reuters Television.
Continued…
