Africa’s biggest gold miner AngloGold Ashanti is planning to retrench 8500 mine workers as part of its restructuring its South African business.
The company which employs 28 000 people, says the retrenchment is part of the restructuring of the company’s production and cost base in its South African business.
Economics analyst Nerina Visser says, “This is much more about the age of our gold mines and the escalating costs of keeping operations going in these old mines… It is a 60 day consultation process so this is not something that has already happened, although the workers have received notice that this retrenchment process or consultation process has started.”
The National Union of Mineworkers has reacted angrily that AngloGold Ashanti plans to retrench the mine workers.
NUM president Thamsanqa Matosa says the union wants companies to pay a month salary for each year of service instead of a week’s salary.
[Source: SABC]
