Business Report writes that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Tuesday that the workers, who numbered at least 69, who since Saturday have been staging an underground strike at the China Precious Metal Company (CAPM) in Orkney, North West, would only resurface once their demand for a salary hike has been met.  

Masibulele Naki, the NUM’s Matlosana regional secretary, said the union had requested President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe to intervene in the impasse.  “The workers, who are currently underground, have said that nothing is going to convince them to return to the surface.  They have told us that they will die underground if their demands are not met,” Naki said on Tuesday.  The union blamed the CAPM management for making an about-turn on its offer to increase salaries by 8%, which was allegedly reversed by the China-based management who decided to offer a zero-percent increase.

• The original of this report by Dineo Faku is at Business Report

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