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| Police Use Force In Miners Strike In South Africa | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The police fired rubber bullets at striking miners at the Anglo American Platinum mine in Rustenburg on Saturday as the company announced that it had agreed to reinstate 12,000 South African workers dismissed earlier this month for staging illegal strikes. | JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The police fired rubber bullets at striking miners at the Anglo American Platinum mine in Rustenburg on Saturday as the company announced that it had agreed to reinstate 12,000 South African workers dismissed earlier this month for staging illegal strikes. |
| The police fired on hundreds of miners in North West Province who had gathered near the Olympia Stadium, apparently to block a rally by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which is part of the governing African National Congress. It was unclear if anyone had been injured. | The police fired on hundreds of miners in North West Province who had gathered near the Olympia Stadium, apparently to block a rally by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which is part of the governing African National Congress. It was unclear if anyone had been injured. |
| The strikers, in the black T-shirts associated with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union and armed with sticks and stones, threatened to attack the trade union ralliers, wearing red T-shirts, according to the South African Press Association, which reported Saturday that some of the miners had vowed not to return to work until their wage demands were met. | |
| The Association of Mineworkers is a newer, more radical union that represents strikers who regard the trade union group and the main mineworkers union, the National Union of Mineworkers, as too close to mine bosses. The miners say the main union has not been properly representing them during the strikes. | |
| Some of the miners had been threatening to make the company’s three operations in Rustenburg, near Cape Town, ungovernable if they were not reinstated and their salaries increased. They want about $1,800 in monthly pay. Anglo American Platinum has offered them only a one-time “hardship allowance” of about $230 if they agreed to return to work. | Some of the miners had been threatening to make the company’s three operations in Rustenburg, near Cape Town, ungovernable if they were not reinstated and their salaries increased. They want about $1,800 in monthly pay. Anglo American Platinum has offered them only a one-time “hardship allowance” of about $230 if they agreed to return to work. |
| Mpumi Sithole, a spokeswoman for Anglo American Platinum, said the workers had until Tuesday to return to their jobs “on the same terms and conditions of employment” as before. | Mpumi Sithole, a spokeswoman for Anglo American Platinum, said the workers had until Tuesday to return to their jobs “on the same terms and conditions of employment” as before. |
| Anglo American Platinum’s decision to reinstate the fired workers came the day after Cynthia Carroll, the chief executive of its parent company, Anglo American, resigned under pressure. | |
| If the miners return to work, it would bring an end to labor unrest that has damaged South Africa’s reputation as an investment destination. At the peak of the unrest, 80,000 miners were on strike across South Africa. |