BUSINESS OF THE NUM STRIKE

GOLD FIELDS LOSING R6M A DAY

GOLD FIELDS said yesterday that it has been losing R6 million a day since the beginning of the strike by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) at its South Deep mine. The NUM strike has now entered its third week. On November 2, the NUM embarked on a protected strike at South Deep mine in a bid to protest retrenchments of 1 100 more workers at the mine. Gold Fields, one of the world’s largest gold mining firms, commenced a Section 189 process with the mine’s two registered trade unions in August to retrench up to 1 560 employees at its South Deep mine. The mine has not been able to produce since the commencement of the strike, resulting in a cash burn of around R6m a day, as revenue losses were partially offset by lower operating costs, including the application of the no-work, no-pay rule. To date, striking employees have lost more than R55m in total in wages and earnings. South Deep this week commenced paying out the retrenchment packages of 1 082 affected employees, including payments for the 178 employees who took voluntary severance packages. During this past week, Gold Fields said it had engaged extensively with the national, regional and branch structures of the NUM to bring an end to the damaging strike. But despite progress having been made, the South Deep NUM branch decided to reject the strike settlement proposals and continue with the strike action. “The impact of the decision to reject these proposed settlement terms on our employees is devastating. In addition to the fact that their jobs could now also be placed in potentially further jeopardy, they will continue to incur financial losses as the strike drags on,” said Gold Fields chief executive, Nick Holland. “There is nothing to gain in this strike,” Holland said. | African News Agency (ANA)