Business
South Africa: Work stoppage expected in Platinum sector in response to job cuts
Members of South Africa’s Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) will stage a work stoppage to protest job cuts, AMCU President Joseph Mathunjwa said on Tuesday.
Mathunjwa said the required 48-hour notice was served to the company on Monday and the stoppage would start on Friday. Tuesday is a bank holiday in South Africa.
Amplats, the world’s top platinum producer, said last month that it would cut about 4,800 jobs – laying off 3,300 workers and paying off the rest.
The platinum arm of global mining group Anglo American had plans in January to cut 14,000 jobs but backed away from that target after backlash from the government and unions. But workers remain unhappy with the final result.
Job cuts are a sensitive issue in South Africa, where the unemployment rate has been stuck at 25 percent for the past 18 months.
Amplats spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole said the company received the notice and would engage with the AMCU.
“Work stoppages will result in further losses that will hamper plans for future sustainability,” Sithole said.
“Downsizing the workforce is unfortunate but necessary for the survival of the business.”
The AMCU has emerged as the dominant union on the platinum belt over the older more established National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
South African platinum producers are currently in pay negotiations with unions, which if deadlocked, may lead to more work stopagges. The AMCU wants pay raises of more than 100 percent.
Huge wage hikes or work stoppages could hurt Amplats’ results as it strives to recover from last year, when low platinum prices and a wave of work stoppages pushed it into the red.
Gold producers sealed a pay rise agreement with NUM that will see salary increases of up to 8 percent, but AMCU rejected the offer and is still in talks with the companies.
Coal producers are also in wage talks. Companies made a final wage offer to unions on Friday, proposing pay increases of between 7 and 11 percent.
NUM said it was still consulting members on the offer. AMCU is not involved in the coal wage talks.