Do More With Reuters
Partner Services

SAfrica union threatens strike at Anglo coal unit

Sun Nov 8, 2009 4:20pm IST
 
Email | Print | | Single Page
[-] Text [+]

* Union gives Anglo American 7 days to respond to demands

* Says failure will lead to indefinite strike

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 8 (Reuters) - South Africa's biggest workers' union will hold a strike at Anglo American's (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) coal unit if company officials fail to respond to demands for better working conditions and benefits, the union's spokesman said on Sunday.

Lesiba Seshoka, spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said hundreds of workers had delivered the list of demands to Anglo Coal in Johannesburg during a protest march on Saturday and would give the company a week to reply.

"We have given Anglo Coal seven days to respond to the demands and to tell us what processes they will take to act on the demands," Seshoka told Reuters.

"If they do not respond within that period then we will have an indefinite strike action."

The demands include a call for the company to fulfill its pledge to provide funeral cover to families of miners and for it to build childcare facilities for its female employees.

The union said Anglo had failed to fulfill the child care agreement, reached in 2002/2003, and also accused the company of victimisation of its workers over HIV/AIDS.  Continued...

Reuters correspondent Sourav Mishra recounts the unforgettable night of Nov. 26 at Mumbai's Leopold Cafe
Back from the Dead
REUTERS WITNESS - 26/11

Reuters correspondent Sourav Mishra recounts the night of Nov. 26 at Leopold Cafe.  Full Article | Full Coverage 

REUTERS WEEKEND

9: Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, Royal Ontario Museum; Toronto. What I.M. Pei’s pyramid is to the Louvre, so is the relatively new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal to the Royal Ontario Museum. While many praise the glass structure, just as many are troubled by the incongruity to the original, more traditional museum that still sits directly beside it.  REUTERS/Yan Sun/Handout
Travel Picks

World's top 10 ugliest buildings.  Full Article | Slideshow 

Revellers dance at an office Christmas party in London December 13, 2007.  REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly
Travel Picks

Top 10 cities to party the night away.  Full Article 

 
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey waves to people at the Main Street in Copenhagen in this September 30, 2009 file photo. REUTERS/Scanpix/Jeppe Michael Jensen/Files
End of Oprah?

Winfrey says ending TV show "feels right."  Full Article | Slideshow 

Dresses worn by actress Audrey Hepburn are displayed at a press preview of the Tanja Star-Busman collection of Hepburn memorabilia at Sotheby's in New York November 20, 2009.  REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Hepburn Auction

Audrey Hepburn's dresses will be sold at auction.  Full Article 

 
One Year Later

A look back at the events of 26/11 ahead of the first anniversary of the militant attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.  Slideshow | Full Coverage 

Photo
Ageing Santa gets $100,000 facelift for Christmas Friday, 20 Nov 2009 

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A Santa in New Zealand with a droopy eye has received a NZ$100,000 ($74,000) face-lift in the run-up to Christmas so that his aging face does not scare children.  Full Article