UPDATE 4-Tanzania's Barrick strike on till demands met-union
(Adds other mines request to join strike)
NAIROBI, Nov 2 (Reuters) - A strike disrupting Tanzania's Bulyanhulu gold mine, owned by Canada's Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), will continue until workers' grievances on pay, health and risk allowances are met, a union official said on Friday.
"We have said that we will strike until the employer abides (by) our agreements," Mbaraka Igangula, chairman of Tanzania Mines and Construction Workers Union (TAMICO), told Reuters by telephone from Dar es Salaam.
"From our union, we say we are ready for a round-table negotiation to resolve this problem."
On Tuesday, Barrick said about 1,000 of its 1,971 workers had walked off the job last Thursday in what it termed an illegal strike. Barrick said it had fired half the mine's workforce, and production had been halted.
Igangula said he had received requests from workers in other mines to join in the strike, but had asked for restraint.
"They want to join in the strike. They said 'You injure one, you injure all'. I said it has not gone that far but if the situation worsens we may call for a whole country strike," he told Reuters without saying which mines could be affected.
Barrick has two other operational gold mines in Tanzania, and is in the process of developing a third, as well as a nickel project.
Igangula said all legal procedures were followed in organising the strike.
"The strike is legal. According to the law, you need to register with the commissioner for arbitration, which we did. According to the law, you give a minimum of 48 hours, but we gave seven days notice," he said.
Barrick, the world's top gold producer, said in its statement on Tuesday that some areas of the mine were still functioning, but the operation had produced almost no gold since the strike began.
The firm said some operations, including blasting and support services, were continuing, but milling was not operational. If its remaining employees failed to show up to work, they would also be fired, it added.
WAGE DISPARITY
Barrick acquired the mine in 1999. It produced 330,000 ounces of gold last year at a total cash cost of $339 an ounce. It had proven and probable reserves of 11.2 million ounces as of the end of last year.
Igangula said issues that led to the strike include a disparity in wages between foreign and local workers, with locals earning a fraction of what the expatriates received.
He said, for instance, that a foreign worker earned 24 million Tanzania shillings ($20,820) a month, while a local worker took home a minimum wage of 200,000 shillings. A Tanzanian professional worker received $4,000 a month, he said.
Foreign workers also received a bonus of 20 percent of their salaries, which is denied to local workers, Igangula added.
"We have demanded that this irregularity be rectified."
Igangula added that local workers did not receive any risk allowance for exposure to hazards while working in the mine.
Barrick's shares traded at 40.56 Canadian dollars ($42.91) at 1137 GMT, compared with a 40.39 dollar close on Thursday.
Tanzania is Africa's third biggest gold producer.
Gold is one of its key foreign exchange earners, having brought about $1.8 billion to the east African economy in the year ending August, according to the central Bank of Tanzania's monthly economic review for September.
The Tanzanian government is in the process of reviewing its mining laws and has already reached agreements with Barrick and Australia's Resolute Mining Ltd to remove a tax concession that will compel them to start paying taxes.
It is also pressing companies to use more local people as staff and source locally as many services as possible.
