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Fin24 reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has labelled Sibanye-Stillwater's plans to restructure its gold operations, and potentially retrench more than 2,000 workers, as a "form of punishment" for a three-month strike at its operations this year.
In a statement on Wednesday, the union said it was shocked to hear that the company was contemplating the retrenchment of employees at Beatrix 4 shaft in the Free State and Kloof 1 and 2 plants in Gauteng. "The NUM cannot dismiss the fact that this is a form of punishment for the strike period in which gold sector workers, through their unity, secured a reasonable victory in terms of wages and working conditions. This is capitalist barbarism at its best," the union stated. Sibanye on Tuesday announced that its gold division had launched a formal consultation process in terms of section 189 of the Labour Relations Act which could lead to the possible retrenchments of 1,959 employees and 465 contractors. NUM said it believed Sibanye planned to repurpose Beatrix 4 to mine uranium with an intention to use subcontractors. Sibanye’s spokesperson confirmed that the company was exploring the opportunity to mine uranium at Beatrix 4 because, with higher prices, an economic case might be made for it now. "We're not sure whether it will come to fruition [or] whether it will be viable … But essentially, the gold mining part of it has now reached the end of its life … we can't continue to absorb losses," he said.
Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lisa Steyn at Fin24
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