Wage review planned for South Africa’s miners

Facing a surging wave of strikes, South Africa’s Chamber of Mines says it has agreed to review wage deals for workers.

15 thousand miners who have downed tools at the Gold Fields mine in Carletonville, west of Johannesburg.

It is estimated around 80,000 miners across the country are on some kind of stoppage.

Economist Lebohang Pheko said: “These are not only labour disputes but are a kind of measure of discontent and unhappiness about a whole bunch of fundamental issues around redistribution of resources, access to fair wages and access to decent work.”

The dispute began at the Lonmin Mining Company’s Marikana site over the summer. 34 miners were shot by police during the stand-off over pay in August.

The strike ended with a hefty pay rise for the Lonmin company’s miners, prompting a wave of copycat strikes across the industry.

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