[miningmx.com] – HOTAZEL Manganese Mines, a business that BHP Billiton will ask shareholders to unbundle in the South32 de-merger next month, agreed with South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to end an unprotected strike.
Employees were due to return to work today (April 8). “Both parties have agreed to engage further on the issues under discussion,” the group said in an announcement.
The strike followed NUM’s contention that BHP Billiton owed employees an unspecified payment arising from an Employee Share Ownership Scheme (ESOP).
“The company has been engaging with employees and NUM on these claims since 2007 and these engagements led to an agreement in 2012 pursuant to which employees received a once off financial settlement to resolve these claims,” BHP Billiton said last week.
“In addition to this financial settlement, the company launched a new ESOP which has seen employees receive three dividends to date, with the fourth one due in the month of April this year.
“According to the conditions of the new ESOP, NUM agreed that all matters related to 2007 ESOP including previous proposals, presentations and discussions were annulled by the settlement”.
