TANZANIA Mines, Energy, Construction and Allied Workers' Union (TAMICO) has supported a strike by 1,800 employees of Bulyanhulu Mine in Kahama District saying it followed all the required legal steps.

The TAMICO National Chairman, Mr Mbaraka Igangula, told reporters yesterday that Bulyanhulu workers took into consideration labour laws and the strike did not happen by chance.

Mr Igangula said his union was ready to mediate negotiations between the two sides in the stand-off in order to find an amicable solution to the situation.

On the issue of Barrick -- who are operating the mine -- firing all the workers on strike and employing new ones, Mr Igangula said that the union will do all in its powers to make sure that it does not happen.

Meanwhile, the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) Secretary General, Mr Nestory Ngulla, has said that he visited the Bulyanhulu mines and concurred that the situation was unhealthy.

Mr Ngulla also called on the government to carefully scrutinize investors in the mining sectors to make sure that they do not disregard the rights of their employees.

"It is Tanzanians working in the mines who suffer more than the foreigners who come to invest in the sector", he said.

The Bulyanhulu mine workers are since October 5 on a strike demanding health insurance, risk allowance and bonus packages be given to them.