July 2001 Africa News Headlines

JOHANNESBURG - South African power workers began trickling back to work on Thursday after utility Eskom handed unions a fresh wage deal after two days of strikes that began on Tuesday, unions said.

However, as the Eskom strike faded, others loomed in the country's crucial mining and steel industries while the prospects for industrial strife in the gold mining industry were in the balance.

Some 7,500 workers belonging to the Mineworkers Union (MWU) returned to work at Eskom early on Thursday, but about 16,000 members of two other unions remained on strike as they considered a new offer made in talks late on Wednesday. "We see Eskom's revised offer as a victory for the workers as the result of a very effective strike," said Dirk Hermann, a spokesman for the MWU, the second largest union at Eskom.

The MWU, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) would meet Eskom at 1230 GMT after giving workers a chance to consider the new proposals, union spokesmen said.

The NUM and NUMSA said their members would return to work only once they had properly scrutinised and approved the proposal.

"We are consulting our people to find out whether it's an acceptable offer," said NUM spokesman Moferefere Lekorotsoane, without disclosing full details of the offer. "We are hopeful that a resolution is not far away."

Up to 80 percent of some 23,500 workers went on strike on Tuesday over Eskom's unilateral seven percent wage increase. The unions have demanded nine percent. The strikes coincided with power cuts, but both the unions and Eskom denied they had anything to do with the work stoppage.

MINE, STEEL STRIKES LOOM

Meanwhile, the NUM said up to 18,000 coal workers would go on strike from Sunday after talks deadlocked with coal mines Ingwe, Eyesizwe and Anglocoal over wages, medical benefits and meal intervals.

And workers at Iscor, the country's largest iron and steel group, rejected a seven percent wage increase and signalled their intention on Wednesday to vote on a strike.

"We will probably make a decision on a strike on Monday," said Hermann, whose union also has members at Iscor.

The NUM, whose 250,000 members are spread across South Africa's mining and metals industries, will meet the Chamber of Mines on Friday in a bid to avert a strike in the crucial gold sector.

The NUM voted on Monday to go on strike from Thursday over wage offers. Gold miners put their strike plans on hold after the Chamber of Mines, which represents mine employers, came up with a new deal that the union was scrutinising ahead of Friday's talks.

The coal strike and lingering concerns over a possible gold strike hit mining giant Anglo American's shares on Wednesday. They plunged eight percent on Wednesday, but had edged back 1.94 percent or 200 cents to 104.60 rand by 0854 GMT on Thursday.

The Ministry of Labour moved to calm worries over the effect the rash of strikes would have on South Africa's economy, saying long-term wage agreements in key sectors struck in 1999 had expired this year.

"The threat and possibilty of widespread action this year is not surprising as a number of key sectors in the economy are currently embroiled in negotiations," said Eddie Jayiya, a labour ministry spokesman. 1006 260701 WEB story ENDS (NAMPA 260959)

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