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London - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday it would battle what it sees as a mass retrenchment drive by major companies in the mining industry in the country.
A number of companies - including giant mining and commodity trading house Glencore [JSE:GLN], platinum producer Lonmin [JSE:LON] and gold mining firm Harmony [JSE:HAR] - have announced plans to either close operations or cut jobs after a sharp fall in metal prices.
Since the start of 2015, the entire South African mining industry has cut between 5 000 and 10 000 jobs according to NUM. About 30 companies have issued Section 189 notifications - a legal requirement to initiate talks that can lead to retrenchments - with a minimum of between 15 000 and 20 000 jobs to be lost, the union said.
READ: Mining job-cut plans sidestepping rules: NUM
"The NUM declares war against job losses through retrenchments, voluntary severance package and other... concocted means of destroying the lives of many families with dependants in labour-sending areas," the union said in a statement.
It criticised Glencore for going ahead with plans to cut the jobs of more than 1 000 employees at its Optimum coal mine despite an abundance of ore and power availability issues in the country. It also accused the company of having rejected other options such as a trade sale of the operation.
"Optimum has over the past few months exhausted every effort to engage with all key stakeholders," Glencore said in a statement in response to NUM's comments.
"Optimum is no longer financially sustainable. We call upon the NUM to desist from issuing negative statements that do not contribute to the resolution of this matter."
