Amcu reads riot act to Amplats over plan to cut jobs

MEMBERS of the Association of Mining and Construction Union (Amcu) will strike at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) on Friday, with rival union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), saying it will also consider industrial action over job cuts at the miner.

Amcu leader Joseph Mathunjwa said yesterday the union had issued a 48-hour strike notice on Monday, but it would consider calling off the planned action if Amplats reversed a decision to cut 3,300 jobs by the end of the week.

Large job cuts have loomed at the world’s largest platinum miner since the beginning of the year. This was when Amplats announced it was considering cutting 14,000 jobs, closing unprofitable shafts and aligning operations with weaker commodity prices.

The restructuring plans were precipitated by an unprecedented financial loss last year.

In February Amplats reported a fall in headline earnings of 141% and a R1.47bn loss for the twelve months to December. These were largely attributable to a two-month unprotected strike.

The miner’s plan met with fierce resistance from the government and trade unions. Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu threat- ened to revoke its mining licences, while unions threatened strikes.

A process of facilitation under the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration ultimately resulted in 1,500 staff accepting voluntary severance packages, while vacancies would be found for 1,600 across the group.

Amplats spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole said yesterday that industrial action would result in further losses for the company. The job cuts were necessary for the survival of the business and “the remaining 40,000 jobs”.

Management would be pursuing engagement with stakeholders.

Mr Mathunjwa accused management of acting in bad faith, over “continually moving targets” and a lack of transparency with workers.

The NUM’s spokesman Lesiba

Seshoka said yesterday that during talks on restructuring “retrenchments were never on the table”. It was regrettable that Amcu had not sought joint action with other unions as resistance would be “stronger together”.

NUM would seek further engagement with management, but by pressing ahead with retrenchments Amplats had given unions very little room for further negotiation, Mr Seshoka said.

A strike was “definitely on the cards”, he said.

Strikes also loom for the gold sector, where Amcu has declined a wage offer of up to 8% from producers, although this has been accepted by three other unions — the NUM, Solidarity, and the United Association of SA.

Mr Mathunjwa said a meeting between Amcu leaders, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and Ms Shabangu was expected to take place this week. “While they (Mr Motlanthe and Ms Shabangu) can’t negotiate for us … they need to know where we are coming from before there is any strike.”

Meanwhile, 70,000 National Union of Metalworkers of SA members have been on strike at petrol stations and vehicle component manufacturing factories.

Retail Motor Industry executive director Jakkie Olivier dismissed reports of a substantial gap between workers and employers in talks. “We are much closer (to a settlement) than people believe,” he said.