[miningmx.com] – ANGLO American Platinum (Amplats) said planned restructuring of its Rustenburg shafts would affect up to 8,000 less jobs following a three-month consultation with government that excluded unions.
Chris Griffith, CEO of Amplats, said the consultation process – in which unions, and the labour and mineral resources departments were involved – moved to a bilateral discussion between it and the departments as the information-sharing process involved confidential information.
“Initially, labour was part of the process but we got to a stage where we needed to share much more confidential information. Therefore, it had to be a bilateral process with government,” Griffith said.
The tacit significance is that Amplats’ recasting of its restructuring plans – which in the first iteration looked at affecting 14,000 jobs – must now undergo negotiation with South Africa’s fast-changing labour market, a process Griffith said could take two to three months to work through.
Griffiths said that about 41% of the group’s labour were members of the Associated Mineworkers & Construction Union (Amcu). The National Union of Mineworkers had about a third of Amplats’ staff as members.
On paper, however, the restructuring proposal is a significant improvement for unions and the South African government based on the pure potential for less job losses and social foment.
The principle revision between the restructuring announced on January 15 and the proposal set down today is that Khuseleka 1 remains open – a shaft that provides jobs to 4,500 people.
There were also some 1,000 vacancies that had opened up across the group that could now be filled by employees still affected by the revised restructuring; while 500 less jobs would be hit at Amplats’ processing facilities, again owing to vacancies.
An additional 1,000 contractors employed at Amplats’ facilities had been redeployed at its Twickenham project, said Griffith who added that the nature of the engagement between government and the company would be carried through to unions.
“There really is no need for industrial action,” said Griffith. His comments are against a backdrop of some militancy. According to newswire service, Reuters, workers at Amplats claiming to be Amcu-aligned said any retrenchments would be opposed with mass walkouts.
Lesiba Seshoka, spokesperson for the NUM, said the retrenchment plans would be opposed, but he added that the union had been consulted. “We knew 6,000 jobs would be cut but we are opposed to this.
“We will go along with the Section 189 [restructuring] process and we will engage, but I judge there’s a 98% chance this will result in strike activity,” he said.
Said Griffith of the revised restructuring: “This can’t be us deciding this. This is not a fait accompli for unions. There is now an opportunity to interrogate the plans and the conclusions. We will look at alternatives; packages and voluntary retrenchments”.
The key elements of the revised restructuring is as follows:
* Up to 6,000 jobs affected vs. 14,000 in first restructure plan
* Base-line production of 2.2 to 2.4m oz vs. 2.1m to 2.3m oz
* R2.3bn in restructuring costs vs. R3.2bn previously
* 250,000 oz reduction in output capacity for 2013 with a further 100,000 oz/year due to be cut over time vs. 400,000 oz in production capacity cuts previously
As originally proposed, Amplats’ Union mine would be divested “at the right time” – terminology used by the group in its January announcement. Amplats said it would continue to seek logistic and operational improvements with its joint venture partners, while remaining committing to divesting of its Pandora joint venture.
RESTRUCTURE DETAILS
Griffith said that the groups Rustenburg region would be consolidated into three operating mines through the integration of Khuseleka 2 and Khomanani 1 and 2 mines into surrounding mines.
He was anxious to avoid calling the restructuring a case of putting shafts on care and maintenance. “”What we are doing is hoisting and managing from fewer shaft barrels but the ground beneath [to be mined] will still be the same”. He earlier described the philosophy of the restructuring as creating scale for fewer shafts.
Asked if Amplats had ‘caved in’ to South African government pressure, Griffith said: “We all need to understand that we have the same concerns about labour. Any loss of jobs in South Africa is a big issue.
“Government’s reaction was understandable. We have had constructive and robust engagement. We have spent alot of time sharing with Government”.
