Lonmin stopped buses: AMCU
Amcu accused Lonmin management of stopping buses from ferrying miners to Wonderkop stadium for the first day of a wage strike on platinum mines in the North West on Thursday
"Management has stopped buses from collecting our workers and bringing them to the stadium," Amcu's Lonmin chairman Jack Khoba
claimed. "We managed to make an alternative plan."
Mineworkers were slowly filling up the stadium. Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union at Lonmin in Marikana, Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum started a strike on Thursday for an entry-level monthly salary of R12,500.
Khoba said the union had not heard from the employer regarding their demands. "We will continue our strike for as long as our demands are not met," he said.
Khoba promised a peaceful strike. He said members were not violent and would not intimidate those working. "No one threatened anyone. No one said those going to work will be killed. Amcu does not kill people."
Khoba, however, warned those not striking to not come near the strikers. "If a rat wants to go to work, let them. But they must not walk in front of us while we are singing and dancing," he said.
Khoba added that claims of the union being in turmoil were unfounded. "Amcu is still united. It's growing each day. There is no division within Amcu," he said.
-Sapa