12,000 S.African gold miners on wildcat strike: company

Around 12,000 workers have downed tools at a South African gold mine in a wildcat strike, their employer Gold Fields said Friday.

“Employees of the East Section of the KDC Gold Mine on the West Rand (Johannesburg) in South Africa have been engaging in an unlawful and unprotected strike since the start of the night shift on Wednesday,” the company said in a statement on its website.

“Based on informal feedback from employees, the strike appears to be related mainly to disagreements within organised labour and related structures on the mine, although we cannot confirm this” said the company’s South Africa head Peter Turner.

The powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said its members on the mine had a number of complaints.

“Workers have told us they are not happy and we’ve sent a senior team to attend to their grievances,” union spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told the Business Day Live website.

He denied reports that the strike was because of divisions amongst union members over a leadership dispute.

Among member’s complaints was a compulsory funeral cover policy which they wanted to be optional, said Seshoka.

Gold Fields, in its statement, said the action had so far meant that two night and day shifts had been lost. The company had gone to court to get the action declared illegal, Gold Fields said.

The Johannesburg strike follows a deadly wildcat strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana two weeks ago, which left 44 dead, of which 34 shot by police. The violence has been blamed in part on union rivalry.

Gold Fields, which is listed on the Johannesburg and New York Stock Exchanges, produces 3.5 million gold equivalent ounces a year, according to its website.

The company operates eight mines in Australia, Ghana, Peru and South Africa.