Coal miners meet over strike

SA’s biggest coal producers are meeting to discuss their next steps after the largest labor union for the industry started a strike over pay.

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Johannesburg - South Africa’s biggest coal producers are meeting to discuss their next steps after the largest labor union for the industry started a strike on Sunday over pay.

"The demand that’s on the table can’t be met," Charmane Russell, a spokeswoman for the producers, said in a phone interview. "The companies are meeting to discuss a way forward."

Employers, including Anglo American, Glencore and Exxaro Resources, will meet with the National Union of Mineworkers on Thursday, she said in an e-mail.

The strike, the first such action related to wage negotiations in coal since 2011, came after the NUM last week rejected an offer to raise basic salaries for the lowest-paid workers by 5.5 percent to 8.5 percent. The union wants increases of 12 percent to 13 percent.

The country’s coal-mining industry directly employs almost 90 000 people and paid about 19 billion rand ($1.4 billion) in wages in 2014. The price of South African export coal has dropped 28 percent in the past year.

BLOOMBERG