Xstrata, NUM meet on Monday

used sand cleaning machineXstrata will hold talks today with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to try to resolve the dispute that has led thousands of workers to strike since October 16, the union said.

A "high-level intervention" was made on Friday to get workers and Xstrata management to resume negotiations about the disputed share ownership programme, NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said yesterday. The strike was continuing, he said. Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu "intervened" to help end the strike at Xstrata. "The minister has intervened in the matter in the interests of the sector," Ms Shabangu’s spokeswoman, Zingaphi Jakuja, said yesterday. "The minister wants them to find solutions and to get them around the negotiating table," Ms Jakuja said. Workers at the Switzerland-based mining group are demanding what they claim is a more equitable distribution of the profit share scheme. Workers, led by the NUM and supported by the trade union Solidarity, on Friday handed over a...