The dispute arose after Implats increased the salaries of miners by 18% but excluded rockdrill operators and other categories of workers from benefiting from the pay increase. This prompted the illegal strike according to the National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) spokesman Lesiba Seshoka.
In a separate report, Fin24 says that the strike represented a rebellion against the NUM where it has a monopoly on worker representation. NUM agreed to the large increase for some miners, causing widespread discontent among other categories of workers who were excluded from the deal.
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