Coal news and updates

South African Coal strike may end soon

South Africa's coal miners may end a strike after the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday it had received a revised wage offer from coal producers.

“There is a slight sense of a glimmer of hope that we would get an agreement tonight,” said Peter Bailey, the chief negotiator for the coal sector at the NUM. Details of the wage revision were not immediately available.

The union and the Chamber of Mines are meeting after coal sector workers started a strike on Sunday following a collapse of wage talks last week.

NUM, the largest union in the sector with close to 30 000 members, said it had given its comments on the revised offer to the coal companies.

“We are meeting the chamber tomorrow,” NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu told Reuters.

The Chamber of Mines, which represents Glencore, Anglo American Coal and Exxaro, said last week that the coal producers had raised their offer to increase wages by up to 8.5 percent for the lowest-paid workers from 8 percent previously, an offer the NUM rejected.

The NUM is seeking a 50-percent rise for its lowest paid workers, who make R6 000 a month in basic pay.

source: http://www.iol.co.za