Government efforts to resolve S.African platinum strike fail

The South African government said Monday its efforts to resolve a crippling five-month strike at the the world’s largest platinum producers had failed.

The talks “have unfortunately been dissolved without an outcome,” Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin said in a statement.

The South African government pulled out of the talks, having warned earlier that it would end its mediation if the producers and striking workers failed to reach a settlement on Monday.

“There is no solution for now,” mines ministry spokesman Mahlodi Muofhe told AFP.

“The resolution was that the parties have the capacity to continue talking to each other,” he said “but the minister has disengaged now from the talks,” he said.

After months of standing on the sidelines, the government stepped in at the end of May to try break the deadlock between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the platinum mining firms.

The government became involved following several rounds of failed negotiations to find a compromise between the mining companies and unions, which are seeking the minimum monthly basic wage be doubled to $1,180 (866 euros).

Some 80,000 platinum mine workers downed tools at Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin on January 23, and by the end of this week the strike will have cost the industry more than a third of its annual production.

The strike helped push the South African economy at the outset of this year into its first quarterly contraction since the global economic crisis five years ago.