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South Africa’s mineworkers union on Friday criticised AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s No. 3 gold producer, for docking the pay of its members who stopped work to mourn a dead colleague.
Output at the Mponeng mine came to a halt on Thursday when workers held a memorial for a colleague who died at the site last week. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) condemned AngloGold’s decision for its "no work, no pay rule". "It is insensitive for Anglogold to want to discourage workers from mourning their beloved colleague," NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni said in a statement. He said the union would ensure the workers could mourn and still be paid. AngloGold spokesman Alan Fine said the group hoped to agree on a joint approach with unions on conducting future memorials. Last year, the NUM took a unilateral decision to down tools and hold memorials at mines every time a worker dies in a mine. — Reuters. Fine also said that a section of AngloGold’s TauTona mine, which had been shut, was still undergoing repairs before re-opening. South Africa, the world’s top source of platinum and a major gold producer, has a poor mine safety record. By the end of June this year, 85 mine workers had died in the country’s mines. The government has routinely shut mines temporarily after fatalities in order to investigate and make safety repairs. South Africa said on Thursday it had completed a nation-wide safety audit of mines, begun last December, and a report on its findings would be released soon. (Reporting by James Macharia; editing by Simon Jessop)
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