[miningmx.com] — ABOUT a third of workers at BHP Billiton’s Hillside aluminium smelter in Richards Bay were on strike, the company said late on Monday.
“Approximately a third of our workforce is involved in this dispute with 50 to 150 people demonstrating in an allocated area,” said BHP Billiton SA spokesperson Johnny Dladla in a statement.
National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) members downed tools last Wednesday after four months of negotiations failed to lead to an agreement.
The union wanted a 12% across-the-board wage increase, a 50% employer contribution to the medical aid scheme, the total banning of the use of labour brokers and six months fully-paid maternity leave.
“In an effort to end the dispute a revised offer was tabled and 8.5% was offered in year one, in exchange for a four-year agreement with years two to four linked to CPI (consumer price inflation) plus two percent,” said Dladla.
“Numsa took this offer to their members on December 10, but the offer was rejected and the dispute continues.”
On Monday, Numsa KwaZulu-Natal secretary Mbuso Ngubane said the strike would continue until they received a better offer.
“We call on our members to intensify their militant action until an acceptable offer is presented by the spoilt golden boys and girls of BHP Billiton.”
Dladla said the offer had been accepted by around 70% of the employees, including the union Solidarity.
The parties had been involved in ongoing conciliation since the dispute was lodged on September 1.
“The company’s current priority is for the health and safety of those employees at work. We have enacted our contingency plan and neither safety nor production has been impacted to date,” Dladla said.
Ngubane said the strike had “heavily affected production and profit margins of BHP Billiton”.
Hillside is the largest aluminium smelter in the southern hemisphere and South Africa’s major producer of primary aluminium.
