Niger court declares Areva workers strike illegal, ends walk-out

NIAMEY (Reuters) - A court in Niger declared a strike by workers at French nuclear group Areva's Somair uranium mine illegal, cutting short a planned 72-hour walk out half a day early, company and union officials said on Thursday. Members of the SYNAMIN union launched the strike at the mine near the northern town of Arlit on Tuesday, protesting what they said was the company's failure to pay bonuses it owed employees for reaching financial targets last year. "We returned to work this Thursday at 1 p.m. (1200 GMT)," SYNAMIN spokesman Moutari Moussa told Reuters. "We cede to the decisions of the court," he said. Salifou Yaye, communications officer for Areva Niger, confirmed the end of the strike, which had been meant to continue until midnight. He also rejected the unions claims workers were owned bonuses. "The union contested the company's 2014 financial result, which was established according to accounting standards in place and never before disputed. The court proved us right," Yaye said. SYNAMIN said on Tuesday that around 90 percent of the roughly 1,000 workers at Somair had observed the strike, paralysing operations. Areva said that just 50 percent of workers walked out, and, while the mine itself had shut down, the company's processing facility and other activities were unaffected.