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Namibia: Skorpion Strike Drags On
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Luqman Cloete
Windhoek
A WEEK-OLD strike at Skorpion Zinc Mine showed no sign of ending last night as the two parties were still locked in last-ditch attempts to resolve the stalemate.
"There is still no solution in sight, since the company is reluctant to budge," the Rosh Pinah branch chairman of the Mineworkers' Union of Namibia (MUN), Michaeleno Kadhikwa, told The Namibian yesterday.
"The company has resorted to kangaroo-style negotiations," Kadhikwa claimed.
The mine's 680 workers, of whom 90 per cent voted in favour of the strike, have demanded a wage increase of 14 per cent - the company has offered 10 per cent.
Initially the workers demanded 15 per cent.
According to Kadhikwa, the union has lowered its demand to 13 per cent, but management still refused to give in.
The workers also want a housing allowance of N$1 900 a month, but the company is only prepared to go as far N$1 700 on condition that the union takes the overtime payment issue to the Labour Court.
The other demand is that the company must transport workers who live outside Keetmanshoop at least up to Windhoek.
Currently it only transports workers as far as Keetmanshoop, irrespective of where they live.
The union is also protesting the mine's use of contract workers.
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Attempts to get comment from the mine management yesterday proved futile.
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