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South Africa: Industrial unrest continues as Lonmin miners walk of the job again
Striking miners at one of Gold Fields’ South Africa operations returned to work on Thursday, but there seems to be no end in sight to the industrial unrest that has rocked the country’s mining industry.
More than 80,000 miners have downed tools since August in strikes that are hitting growth and investor confidence in Africa’s biggest economy.
In a surprise action, 4,000 workers at Lonmin’s Marikana mine stayed away from work on Thursday, disrupting operations once again at the plant.
“There have been disruptions at various shafts since yesterday,” Lonmin spokeswoman Sue Vey said, adding that they did not know why the workers had downed tools. Miners had recently returned to work after being granted pay increases of up to 22 percent following a six-week strike.
Gold Fields, the world’s fourth-largest bullion producer, said all of the 9,000 workers at its Beatrix mine were now back at work after responding to a dismissal ultimatum.
More and more mining companies in South Africa have resorted to mass dismissals to tackle the strikes gripping the sector.
Around 15,000 workers have been fired in the last two weeks, although experts say it is more a hard-ball negotiating tactic than outright dismissal.
“It’s largely a tactical move,” said a labor lawyer, who asked not to be named as he is involved in talks to resolve the strikes. “They don’t expect to be able to run a mine with a completely new labor force.”
Most of the workers will be rehired when the protests end, weeks of strikes have pushed some already struggling shafts into the red, meaning some jobs will be lost.
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said it would not fire any wildcat strikers at its relatively profitable Union and Amandelbult mines for now as it sought to engage unions to resolve the disputes.
AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s third-largest gold producer, said it would make a decision next week on whether to issue an ultimatum to workers.
Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have both lowered South Africa’s credit rating, citing a lack of political leadership and rising pressure on the government to throw money at the social problems underscored in the mines.