Talks Resumed in S. Africa Strike : Giant Mining Firm, Union Report Some Progress on Pay

The giant Anglo American Corp., hit hardest in a three-week-old strike by South Africa’s black miners, and the National Union of Mineworkers resumed negotiations Friday following the company’s dismissal of nearly a quarter of its work force in the pay dispute.

The two sides, both bruised in the strike, indicated they had made some progress in an effort to break the prolonged deadlock over wages, the main issue in the often violent dispute, and planned formal bargaining talks for Sunday.

In a joint statement, itself a measure of progress, the company and the union said that their seven hours of talks, which ended just after midnight, were intended to “explore avenues to reach a settlement of the dispute and an end to the strike.”

“The talks were frank, and certain undertakings were discussed,” the statement said. “The contents of the discussions will be referred to members of the National Union of Mineworkers and the principals of Anglo American.”

Rumors Fueled

Neither company nor union officials would elaborate on the statement, and it only fueled rumors that a settlement for South Africa’s biggest and most costly labor dispute was within reach.

But a senior mining industry source commented later that there were still “some big stumbling blocks” to an agreement and that the negotiations on Sunday between the Mineworkers and the Chamber of Mines, the employers group to which Anglo American belongs, would undoubtedly be tough.

The negotiations, which both sides unsuccessfully had tried to keep secret, apparently were resumed at the union’s initiative Friday morning after Anglo American stepped up its mass dismissals of strikers, who had earlier turned down a take-it-or-leave-it offer from the mining companies and voted to continue the strike.

20,000 More Fired

Anglo American, which had already fired almost 10,000 strikers, dismissed more than 20,000 on Thursday and nearly 20,000 others Friday when they refused to return to work as ordered.

About 10,000 more strikers have been dismissed by other mining companies in the past week. Under South African labor law, registered black unions are permitted to strike, provided they follow prescribed procedures, but employers may discipline the workers, lock them out or dismiss them outright if they refuse to return to work when ordered.

A coal miner, one of a small number that had continued to work through the strike, was killed while on the way to work Friday morning at the Matla colliery near Kriel, 70 miles southeast of Johannesburg. The Trans-Natal Coal Corp. said he was repeatedly stabbed and his body was then burned. He was the seventh miner to die in strike violence.

Intervention Possible

In Cape Town, a senior Cabinet minister warned of possible government intervention if the strike continues and threatens the country’s economic stability.

The government “would not sit idly by and watch the country’s economy destroyed by outsiders,” Frederik W. de Klerk, leader of the ruling National Party in Transvaal province, told Parliament. “Effective steps” would be taken to protect the economy, De Klerk said, but he gave no details.

Until now, the government has remained cautious about intervening, but the impact of a prolonged strike on South Africa’s economy, which is slowly emerging from a severe recession, could be severe. The mining industry accounts for about 15% of the country’s gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services here, but nearly 60% of its foreign exchange earnings.

Officials said that the government’s stance will also be determined by the threatened “solidarity actions” of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the country’s largest labor federation, which warned that its other affiliates planned to support the mine workers and might launch a nationwide general strike if the dismissals continue.

300,000 on Strike

According to the union’s figures, more than 300,000 of South Africa’s 600,000 black miners went on strike Aug. 9 at 44 gold and coal mines to demand higher wages, improved benefits and better working conditions. The Chamber of Mines says that, at its peak, no more than 240,000 miners were participating, but it concedes that at the peak, production was effectively halted at a third of the country’s gold and coal mines.

The union originally demanded an across-the-board pay raise of 30%. The six major mining companies that make up the South African Chamber of Mines offered increases of 15% to 23%, put those increases into effect unilaterally two months ago and then refused to discuss the issue further. The average black miner now earns about $285 a month, plus free food. That is about a fifth what a white miner is paid.

Wage Demand Cut

The union on Tuesday cut its wage demand to 27%. The companies offered to double death benefits paid to families of miners who are killed while working and to increase their holiday leave allowances, but they again refused to compromise on the wage issue.

The strike, as a result, has become a test of strength between the powerful mining industry, which is the source of much of South Africa’s wealth, and the mine workers, now the country’s largest union, which wants a greater share of that wealth for the black workers who it says produce it.

Each side believes that the results of this year’s negotiations will probably set a pattern for future years and that the settlement in the crucial mining industry will affect bargaining in many other areas.

After two weeks, the mining companies’ lost pre-tax revenues were estimated to total more than $100 million--more than the annual cost of the union’s original demands--and the miners were losing about $2.8 million a day in wages.