JOHANNESBURG - "Our Labour Relations Act provides for the regulation of centralised collective bargaining through bargaining councils," Sacotu president Koos Bezuidenhout said in a statement.

"We have been calling for a bargaining council for the mining industry to be established for a long time, and we hope that this shocking event will spur the lagging processes into renewed action."

Police opened fire to disperse protesters in Marikana on Thursday.

Bezuidenhout said it was important to create a process to deal with all employment relations matters in the mining and other sectors.

Sacotu consists of the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) and the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu).