Niger mine workers stage 'indefinite' strike
2013-03-22 09:08
Niamey - More than 600 people working at a Chinese-operated
uranium mine in northern Niger on Thursday began an "indefinite"
strike action to protest their working conditions, a union official said.
Union spokesperson Alassane Idrissa told AFP that after
having staged an initial 72-hour cautionary strike, the action on Thursday rolled
into an "indefinite" protest to demand "better life and working
conditions" for the Niger staff at the Azelik site which is exploited by
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).
Idrissa said that despite several agreements CNNC had for
four years postponed improved conditions for its workers and has delivered
"nothing concrete".
One of the protesters' key demands concerns benefits enjoyed
by other mining workers in the region, and which Idrissa said are inscribed in
Niger's rule of law. He also accused CNNC of "paying no respect" to
neither the environment nor the health of its workers, whom he said "are
exposed to radioactivity".
In 2012, CNNC extracted 200 tonnes of uranium from the
Azelik mine, located 200km from the industrial town of Arlit.
Niger is the world's third largest uranium producer, but the
landlocked sub-Saharan country's remains one of the world's least developed
nations.
