South Africa mine set to fire 12,000 striking workers

Aljazeera

More than 12,000 striking workers are set to lose their jobs at a gold mine in South Africa, despite managers' insistence they are still trying to bring an end to the impasse. Miners at the AngloGold Ashanti facility in Carletonville defied orders to return to work by noon on Wednesday and end a strike called to demand higher pay and better working conditions. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Alan Fine, a spokesman for AngloGold Ashanti, said that the dismissals were "a drawn-out process". "In the meanwhile, we have been and continue to engage with strike leaders and attempt to reach an agreement for a return to work at the earliest opportunity," he said. "We think that the improvements we've offered ... that seems to us to be a reasonable basis for a return to work and a return to normality." But the deal, set out last week, has been rejected by many of the striking workers. "Management is not prepared to meet us halfway," said miner Rogers Mohlabane. "They are coming with peanuts and workers aren't happy." Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from Carletonville, said: "Government officials and union leaders are meeting to try and end the strikes in the mining sector. "But many workers are defiant, saying they are not going back to work until they get their pay increase." Roger Letswalo, a miner at Ashanti, said: "We demanded R18,500 ($2,100) from the management and then for how much we will settle, that is going to be the outcome of the negotiations now." Many miners earn the equivalent of $500 a month.