SA union plans strike over mine sackings

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said yesterday 20 000 workers plan to start an indefinite strike at Harmony Gold on October 6 due to planned retrenchments of thousands of miners in the Free State.

“The strike will affect all of the Harmony Free State operations and not only those earmarked for closure and retrenchments,” a statement said. The NUM put the number of total retrenchments at around 4 000 but the Solidary union said another closure notice had been released, bringing the figure to 5 061 at four operations.Harmony marketing director Ferdi Dippenaar said the company had received a strike notice but hoped to resolve the situation before October 6.Harmony, South Africa’s biggest domestic gold producer and the world’s sixth biggest gold miner, has been struggling for months to improve profitability without shedding too many jobs.It signed a deal with unions in July to scale down activities at mines where costs were too high amid a strengthening rand that cuts income from exports.The deal stipulated that workers at closed mines would be deployed where possible at other operations or retrained.Longer working hours would be implemented at mines that remained open, which would increase the number of employees needed at those operations.Solidarity’s Dykema said that when the agreement was signed in July, Harmony had indicated forced retrenchments would be limited to around 2,000.He said Harmony issued notices to close Merriespruit 3 and Welkom 1 shafts, retrenching 951 and 540 workers respectively, and to partially close the Bambanani mine and Elands shaft, with job losses of 2,937 and 633 respectively.When Harmony released results in August, it identified six shafts that would be shut or partially closed.-Nampa-ReutersThe NUM put the number of total retrenchments at around 4 000 but the Solidary union said another closure notice had been released, bringing the figure to 5 061 at four operations.Harmony marketing director Ferdi Dippenaar said the company had received a strike notice but hoped to resolve the situation before October 6.Harmony, South Africa’s biggest domestic gold producer and the world’s sixth biggest gold miner, has been struggling for months to improve profitability without shedding too many jobs.It signed a deal with unions in July to scale down activities at mines where costs were too high amid a strengthening rand that cuts income from exports.The deal stipulated that workers at closed mines would be deployed where possible at other operations or retrained.Longer working hours would be implemented at mines that remained open, which would increase the number of employees needed at those operations.Solidarity’s Dykema said that when the agreement was signed in July, Harmony had indicated forced retrenchments would be limited to around 2,000.He said Harmony issued notices to close Merriespruit 3 and Welkom 1 shafts, retrenching 951 and 540 workers respectively, and to partially close the Bambanani mine and Elands shaft, with job losses of 2,937 and 633 respectively.When Harmony released results in August, it identified six shafts that would be shut or partially closed.-Nampa-Reuters