Union, mine push to keep jobs

NUM SAYS AGREEMENT HAS BEEN REACHED, ASHANTI SAY IT’S TOO EARLY Transfers and retraining on cards to prevent retrenchments completely.

As mining giant AngloGold Ashanti and trade unions were pushing to avoid the pending retrenchments of more than 800 workers at the company, the National Union of Mineworkers (Num) is optimistic after the two agreed on measures to avoid job losses.

Following a meeting with AngloGold on Monday, the National Union of Mineworkers said an agreement had been reached that some workers would be transferred to other business units in the company and other workers would be reskilled for different jobs. But the company said an agreement is yet to be reached.

“This is a work in progress and we will continue meeting with the company to protect worker’s job security,” said Tafa Moya, Num mining coordinator at AngloGold Ashanti.

The Monday meeting scrutinised the Section 189 notice issued in terms of the Labour Relations Act. The company planned to retrench 849 workers, but the parties agreed to seek ways to prevent the retrenchments completely.

On the other hand, AngloGold spokesperson Chris Nthite confirmed the Monday meeting with organised labour and the topic that was on the agenda being the company’s retrenchments notice.

“We discussed the situation and explored steps that must be taken to mitigate the pending retrenchments. We had not reached an agreement yet. It is too early to predict the outcome right now,” Nthite said.

While they had different views about the outcome of the talks, both the Num and AngloGold expressed satisfaction with the progress made in attempts to avoid the retrenchments, which Anglo said were necessitated by economic conditions. The union objected to the retrenchments and challenged Anglo to explore avoidance measures.

The Num will report back to its members at different plants this week. Another meeting between the parties is scheduled for Friday. –