Strike looms at BCL Mine

He said that meanwhile, the miners have decided to boycott BCL celebrations of four million fatality-free shifts to be held next Tuesday because of lack of progress in salary negotiations. Malele has accused BCL Mine of bad faith in the negotiations saying that the company is inflexible. He said BCL is dragging its feet and has refused to budge on the four percent increment it offered when the negotiations started.

After seven days of negotiations an increase for employees in the bargaining group, he said the company was not willing to give in though the union had offered concessions. "According to the information that we have, BCL performed well last year and we expected them to be giving our members more than the four percent that they are suggesting. They are forgetting that such an amount is nothing to someone who gets paid P1, 500 per month. At least they should be offering them an inflation rate," Malele stated.