Protesters urge rehiring of 3,000 miners — Failed deal, not greed, reason for Western Areas layoffs: Placer

South African miners recently staged a massive rally to protest layoffs by Placer Dome at its Western Areas joint venture.

About 2,000 people gathered at a soccer pitch near Johannesburg in demonstration organized by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to protest the company’s decision to cut 3,000 jobs, or 30% of its workforce.

“We were told in July that retrenchments were necessary because of the low gold price,” labour spokesman Hans Berger told the crowd. “But ever since the price increased massively, we have been told that retrenchments were necessary because the NUM was not prepared to accept full-calendar operations at the mine, on the company’s own terms.”

Berger, who is president of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Unions (ICEM), said the company is only interested in increasing profits at the expense of its workers.

The layoffs followed the collapse of negotiations with the union in June over the issue of full-calendar operations, which would allow the mine to operate seven days a week.

“We have days where we don’t operate, where the mill doesn’t run,” said Placer Dome spokesperson Brenda Radies, from the company’s Vancouver headquarters. “If you lose 30% of your operating time, obviously you’re going to have to reorganize your workforce and the way you deal with production.

“It’s difficult in South Africa with the low gold prices. There’s a very high unemployment rate right now. We understand that workers are concerned about their jobs.”

Radies said Placer will provide severance packages and training programs to help the miners find work elsewhere.

The ICEM wants the company to re-hire the workers, and has vowed to co-ordinate additional protests at Placer Dome’s operations around the world, starting with its offices in Sydney, Australia.

So far, none of those protests has materialized, said Radies.