First Quantum offers Zambia miners 15% pay rise

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LUSAKA - Canada's First Quantum Minerals agreed a 15% pay rise with workers at its Zambian flagship copper mine on Sunday but the two sides differed over how long the agreement should stay in place, failing to end a strike which started on Thursday, a union official said.

"We agreed on a 15% pay rise but we have differed on the tenure. The management is saying it should run for two years and we are saying it should not exceed 12 months," acting Mine Workers' Union of Zambia President Charles Mukuka told Reuters.

Workers at the Kansanshi mine, Zambia's largest copper mine, which produced 231 000 t of the red metal in 2010, downed tools to demand a 17% pay increase on Thursday.

Production at the mine ground to a halt because of the strike, prompting Zambia's Vice-President Guy Scott to call for talks mediated by his office to try and end the work stoppage.

After a weekend of negotiations, the talks deadlocked on Sunday and the union called on the president to intervene.

"They keep on changing goal posts and this has made negotiations very difficult. We need the intervention of the head of state to quickly resolve this matter," Mukuka said.

Kansanshi mine company spokesman Godfrey Msiska separately said work at the mine was still halted.

Glencore International Plc's Mopani Copper Mines in Zambia agreed a 17% pay rise with unions in February, almost triple the rate of inflation.

Konkola Copper Mines, part of London-listed Vedanta Resources, awarded a similar pay increase to its workers in January.
Edited by: Reuters

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LUSAKA (Reuters) - Production at the Zambian flagship copper mine of Canada's First Quantum Minerals has ground to a halt because of a strike over wages, the Zambian labour minister said on Friday.

Workers at the Kansanshi mine, Zambia's largest copper mine, which produced 231 000 t of the red metal in 2010, downed tools on Thursday, Fackson Shamenda said in a statement.

"There is a deadlock in salary negotiations. The union is demanding a 17% salary increment and the management is offering 13 percent," Shamenda said.

Kansanshi mine company spokesman Godfrey Msiska separately said workers had blocked the entrance to the mine and nobody was allowed to enter the premises.

"There is nothing happening," Msiska said. "The workers have blocked the entrance to the mine and we are not producing copper."

Union officials and the mine management will meet Zambia's vice president Guy Scott later on Friday over the deadlock, Charles Mukuka, acting president of the Mine Workers' Union of Zambia, told Reuters.

Glencore International's Mopani Copper Mines in Zambia in February agreed a 17%t pay rise with unions, almost triple the rate of inflation.

Konkola Copper Mines, part of London-listed Vedanta Resources, awarded a similar pay increase in January.