South African mine union, Implats in talks to avoid strike

A powerful South African mine workers' union will meet negotiators at Impala Platinum on Friday in an attempt to avert a wage strike thmanufacturing sand in tamilnadu processat could hurt the world's second-largest producer of the precious metal.

The talks are the latest in a wave of disputes that have already disrupted operations in the mining and fuel sectors and threaten to curb growth in an already stagnant economy. The mid-year negotiating session known as "strike season" is expected to intensify next week when at least 145,000 municipal workers plan to walk off the job on Monday, disrupting garbage collection and other services in major cities. The strikes have cost goldminers around $190 million in lost output, curtailed the already struggling manufacturing sector and could trim third quarter economic growth by up to 0.6 percent, analysts said. The Implats talks will start at 1400 GMT, said Eddie Majadibodu, the National Union of Mineworkers' chief negotiator at Implats. "Anything is possible at this meeting. Management does not want a strike and it's up to them to decide what...