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Johannesburg - Striking workers at Anglo Platinum (Amplats) [JSE:AMS] will return to work after almost two weeks of protest action against job cuts.
"The strike is over," said Amplats Amcu organiser George Tyobeka on Thursday.
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) embarked on strike action late in September against the retrenchment of 3300 workers.
Amplats announced in January that 14 000 jobs would be cut as part of its restructuring process.
On September 27 it said retrenchment avoidance measures, such as redeployment into vacancies across the group, voluntary severance, and early retirements, had resulted in a reduction in the number of employees to be retrenched to 3 300.
Amplats CEO Chris Griffith said he was pleased the strike had ended.
"With this latest agreement, no retrenchments will be necessary after the redeployments and voluntary separation packages."
The company said as part of the strike settlement, the 3 300 employees who had previously not taken up the offer of redeployment, voluntary separation, or early retirement, and were to be retrenched, had been granted voluntary separation packages.
"The company will retain approximately 1 250 of those 3 300 employees for a period of six months to undertake reclamation activities at the affected operations [Khuseleka two and Khomanani one and two]", spokesperson Mpumi Sithole said in a statement.
"During this period, these employees will be offered job opportunities that may become available as a result of ending the use of contract labour or vacancies created by natural attrition."
She said at the end of the six months, employees not placed in vacant positions would be given voluntary separation packages.
A further 328 jobs which were currently occupied by contractors would be reserved for permanent employees when the contracts were terminated.
"As a result of these retrenchment avoidance measures, no employees will be retrenched," she said.
The company said operations in Rustenburg and the north of the Pilanesberg would resume after safety procedures had been completed. It said about 44 000 platinum ounces of production had been lost during the 11-day strike.
