“The production bonus has nothing to do with their wages. They performed their duties and they are entitled to that bonus.”
On Monday‚ miners on the surface joined the strike. Workers have been barred entry to the mines until their colleagues come to the surface‚ said Moraladi.
“As we speak‚ the workers underground are hungry because they haven’t eaten since Friday and we are not sure at this stage if they have water left. There are serious wage disparities between operators working in the mines and workers are asking that salaries be equalised across the mines‚” he said.
Moraladi said operators working at different mines run by the same company earned different salaries‚ ranging from R5‚200 to R9‚000 per month. Moraladi claimed that the disparities were across jobs in the different mines and that miners were fed up with this.
This is a developing story and will be updated with comment from the owners of the mine.