North West - Lonmin platinum mine hopes to communicate from now on with workers “within structures and rules”, its acting CEO said in a report on Thursday.
“We've got to work at rebuilding trust and getting processes into place so workers deem they can work through their unions,” Lonmin acting CEO Simon Scott told Business Day newspaper.
“We are going to act within structures and rules and it isn't our intention to continue talking directly to workers.”
Lonmin workers were returning to work on Thursday morning after a 42-day wildcat strike, during which 46 people died.
The strike ended when the company offered them a 22 percent salary increase, which was partly negotiated by a workers' committee, which did not want union presentation.
Business Day said Scott was hesitant to reveal the full effect of Lonmin's increased wage bill.
“The overall wage increase varied between 11 percent and 22 percent, so the cost is somewhere in between… the long-term fundamentals of platinum are excellent, but in the short term the business is going to require very careful management due to increased labour costs,” he said. - Sapa