CONAKRY, April 9 (Reuters) - Guinea's government said on Friday it will propose a minimum wage for the country's mining sector in a bid to end a strike over pay that has halted RUSAL's Friguia alumina refinery since April 1.
'At the moment the government is preparing the decree for a minimum wage for mining companies and it will then be submitted to the president of the transitional government,' said Mouctar Diallo, one of the government negotiators.
The Friguia plant, the largest industrial project in the fractious West African nation, has a capacity to produce around 640,000 tonnes of alumina per year, which the Russian firm ships around the world to be refined further into aluminum.
The plant's output has been nearly completely halted since the start of a strike April 1 by workers seeking a 50 percent pay rise to compensate for rising fuel prices.
The head of the Friguia workers' union, Sekou Ousmane Diallo, said he expects the mininum wage decree to be announced over the weekend, adding it could bring minimum salaries at the plant from about $150 per month to $250 per month.
'The government has promised to prepare a decree that should be published within 72 hours,' he said.
Guinea's transitional government, charged with setting elections following a protracted political crisis, is headed by General Sekouba Konate, who would need to give final approval.
Konate's government is already in talks with RUSAL over whether the Russian firm underpaid for the plant in 2006.
The wage decree is unlikely to affect salaries at other mining companies operating in the country, like the massive Rio Tinto and Alcoa joint venture CBG, because their pay levels are already higher.
'This should not pose any problems (for them),' government negotiator Diallo said.
A RUSAL executive said on condition of anonymity that, after nine days of halted production, the company was willing to submit to a government decree on minimum wages.
(Reporting by Saliou Samb; editing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
((richard.valdmanis@thomsonreuters.com; Dakar newsroom +221 33 864 5076)) Keywords: GUINEA RUSAL/STRIKE (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'At the moment the government is preparing the decree for a minimum wage for mining companies and it will then be submitted to the president of the transitional government,' said Mouctar Diallo, one of the government negotiators.
The Friguia plant, the largest industrial project in the fractious West African nation, has a capacity to produce around 640,000 tonnes of alumina per year, which the Russian firm ships around the world to be refined further into aluminum.
The plant's output has been nearly completely halted since the start of a strike April 1 by workers seeking a 50 percent pay rise to compensate for rising fuel prices.
The head of the Friguia workers' union, Sekou Ousmane Diallo, said he expects the mininum wage decree to be announced over the weekend, adding it could bring minimum salaries at the plant from about $150 per month to $250 per month.
'The government has promised to prepare a decree that should be published within 72 hours,' he said.
Guinea's transitional government, charged with setting elections following a protracted political crisis, is headed by General Sekouba Konate, who would need to give final approval.
Konate's government is already in talks with RUSAL over whether the Russian firm underpaid for the plant in 2006.
The wage decree is unlikely to affect salaries at other mining companies operating in the country, like the massive Rio Tinto and Alcoa joint venture CBG, because their pay levels are already higher.
'This should not pose any problems (for them),' government negotiator Diallo said.
A RUSAL executive said on condition of anonymity that, after nine days of halted production, the company was willing to submit to a government decree on minimum wages.
(Reporting by Saliou Samb; editing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
((richard.valdmanis@thomsonreuters.com; Dakar newsroom +221 33 864 5076)) Keywords: GUINEA RUSAL/STRIKE (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2010 AFX News
