JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Workers at diversified miner Exxaro’s strike-hit coal operations reported for duty over the weekend, bringing an end to the three-week strike that threatened supply to some of South Africa’s coal-fired power stations.

The striking employees on Saturday night accepted Exxaro’s offer of a R2 800 first-quarter short-term incentive, after rejecting, earlier in the week, an eight-point proposal by the JSE-listed group, which included a one-off R2 000 incentive payment.

Strike action over the nonpayment of performance bonuses and other grievances had, over the past three weeks, spread from Exxaro’s Mpumalanga-based Matla and Arnot coal mines on March 5, to the Grootegeluk mine, in Limpopo, on March 8, and the Mpumalanga-based Leeuwpan and Inyanda coal mines on March 9.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) – which did not initiate the strike, but whose members had – and Exxaro had been engaging to bring normality to the operations.

“Exxaro is pleased with the outcome of the engagement between the company and the NUM, particularly as it has averted the possible negative effect that a prolonged strike could have had on Eskom’s electricity generation and the country’s economy as a whole,” the company said in a statement.

The company said that the employees, most of whom had returned to work, were currently undergoing safety and training programmes as part of the start of process and full production was expected within a few days.

The agreement noted that the striking workers at the Matla, Arnot, Grootegeluk, Leeuwpan, Inyanda and Reductants operations were required to report for duty by Monday; however, NUM branch secretary Mxolisi Hoboyi commented that the nightshift workers had already returned by their shift on Sunday night.

“The focus at the operations now will be to restart operations as soon as possible after employees have returned to their duties and undergone safety and training interventions,” Exxaro said.

The “no-work-no-pay” principle applied during the strike, but the company agreed to stagger wage deductions over a period of three months, Hoboyi told Mining Weekly Online.

The employees would receive their full salary in March, followed by the incentive payment on April 17. However, from April until June, the employees would receive reduced wages relative to the number of each worker’s nonworking days during the strike.