[miningmx.com] — THE National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will take
its concerns about potential job losses in the platinum sector to the government at a
meeting with Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu on Monday.
The trade union is worried that job cuts may affect its 300,000-strong membership
as the sector is set to lose jobs in the prevailing weak market.
“We will raise the issue of job losses with the minister,’ said NUM president Senzeni
Zokwana at a discussion forum in Johannesburg on Thursday. “With unemployment
already high in this country, we cannot afford any more job losses. We have to find
a way of planning in the industry that will protect workers and jobs.’
Last week, the minister announced that she would meet with mining industry
stakeholders to examine options available to the battered industry. The industry is
already reeling from weak demand, bruising industrial action and rising costs.
“We are about to see a lot of suffering,’ said Zokwana, adding: “Solutions to the
problem could lie in finding innovative ways in which both the government and
labour share the pain.’
Said Frans Baleni, NUM general secretary: “We have noted the decline in the price
of platinum and are concerned that the bulk of job losses will be in the platinum
industry.
“This will have a negative impact on developmental projects in the mining industry.’
Baleni said his trade union held the position that better planning by mining
companies during boom times would have prevented the looming job losses, adding
that trouble in the platinum industry would affect other sectors like the automobile
industry.
– City Press
