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Implats miners in S.Africa ‘eager’ for strike: union

Miners are pushing to strike for higher wages at South Africa’s Implats, the world number two platinum producer, their union leader said Tuesday.

“The members confirmed that they’re eager to go on strike,” said Joseph Mathunjwa, president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), cautioning that “there is no strike this week”.

Radical upstart AMCU faces pressure from members to deliver on promises to fight for steep pay hikes.

It became the dominant union at all the major producers with the rallying call of a 12,500 rand ($1,154)-minimum wage, following upheaval on the restive platinum belt northwest of Johannesburg.

Polices shot dead 34 people in one day at Lonmin in August 2012 after strikers killed ten people the week before.

Late last year wage talks stalled with top global producer Anglo American Platinum and world number three Lonmin.

Government mediators granted AMCU permission last week to strike at Implats.

Last August the firm reported a 52-percent drop in profit as high labour costs and weak demand trumped slightly higher revenue.

South Africa accounts for around 80 percent of the world’s newly mined platinum — a grayish white mineral used in catalytic converters and jewellery.