BL Premium reports that a high wage bill and low productivity at South32’s Hillside aluminium smelter have led the diversified miner to start a retrenchment process that could affect up to 500 jobs.  

COO Mike Fraser said on Monday that the Richards Bay smelter had “burnt quite a lot of cash” in the six months ended December.  Absolute salary levels on site are “very high” while productivity is “too low” compared to the rest of the world, he stated.  The so-called ‘section 189’ retrenchment consultation process, as required in terms of the Labour Relations Act, was launched on Monday last week.  Trade union Solidarity said the restructuring process at the smelter appeared highly complex as it would involve retrenchments, reorganisation and salary adjustments at the same time.  “They intend to achieve those three goals by means of one process, which is going to be a difficult task,” Solidarity’s Marius Croucamp said in a statement.  Aside from the restructuring, another matter which is key to the smelter’s sustainability is the renegotiation of a power supply contract with Eskom.  Croucamp also expressed concern over the general state of the SA steel industry and the 8,000 jobs lost in 2018.

• Read more of the BL Premium report by Lisa Steyn at SA Labour News

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page