Business Report writes that trade union Solidarity has called on the government to step in to avert the possible axing of more than 3,000 employees at Samancor Chrome.
Solidarity’s metal industry organiser Cornelius van Leeuwen said they had received retrenchment notices from Samancor, indicating that it planned to retrench 2,400 employees at its mines and more than 600 employees at its smelters. “We cannot continue to watch retrenchments in the manufacturing industry. We have seen the closure of Highveld Steel, the Saldhana plant will also about close shop. We want the government to intervene,” said Van Leeuwen. In a retrenchment notice on Monday, Samancor said it planned to enter into a consultation process with organised labour over the next few weeks. “Commodity prices worldwide are under pressure and there was a continuous decline in the commodity markets”, the company pointed out. It highlighted that chrome ore and ferrochrome prices had dropped drastically during the last three months. It also blamed the competition from the Chinese ferrochrome market, the increase in the costs of production, and the availability of electricity and increase in Eskom prices.
- Read the original of the above report by Dineo Faku on page 18 of Business Report of 23 January 2020
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