The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing 92 million workers in 126 countries in the 5 continents, extends its internationalist solidarity with the miners working at Harmony Gold Mining Company of Kusasalethu mine near Carletonville, west of Johannesburg, and with the National Union of Mineworkers.
Last Friday morning, five miners were trapped there after a tremor caused sections of the gold mine to collapse. So far, three bodies have been recovered, while there are two miners remaining trapped underground.
We express our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the deceased workers.
As class oriented world trade union movement, we point out the permanent and urgent demand for implementation and constant observation of health and safety measures at the extremely dangerous workplaces of mines as well as at all workplaces and we stand by the side of NUM who calls for an escalation of the rescue operation for the two miners who are still trapped.
THE SECRETARIAT
