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In 2012, the South African mining industry was plagued by violent strikes and retrenchments that led to widespread uncertainty among employees and foreign investors. According to trade union, Solidarity, these issues would require special attention in the coming year to prevent a recurrence. This follows after an employee at Amplats’s former Amandelbult Mine, now known as Tugela- and Dishaba-mines, was killed on 12 November 2012 after having been assaulted with a stone during yet another violent strike. The strike ended yesterday and representatives of the striking mineworkers will today meet with management in order to reach an agreement.
 
A similar strike at Lonmin’s Marikana Mine, which led to the death of 45 mine workers, has now also given rise to retrenchments at this company. The company has not yet indicated how many employees would be affected by the proposed retrenchments. Lonmin has, however, indicated that it planned to limit production to 750 000 ounces at Maricana over the next two years.
 
According to Johan Kruger, Solidarity spokesperson, strikes could be a contributing factor that leads to retrenchments at a company. ‘Although not all strikes necessarily result in retrenchments they definitely cause uncertainty in the industry,’ Kruger said. Several mines belonging to 14 mining companies have been plagued by strikes in 2012.
 
Employees at Village Main Reef’s Buffelsfontein Mine returned to work last week after they had been on strike since last Monday amidst negotiations between unions and mine management to limit potential retrenchments. Although no formal section 189 notice was issued to the relevant unions the company had earlier indicated that around 400 of its employees were redundant. Potential retrenchments have since been reduced to 20.

At the moment, Solidarity is negotiating with various mining companies about proposed retrenchments:
 
·         The temporary closure of ArcelorMittal in Vanderbijlpark will result in the loss of 140 posts. However, at this stage retrenchments are not on the cards as employees are being redeployed within ArcelorMittal at the moment.
·         JIC notified Solidarity in a section 189 notice that it plans to retrench 281 employees at Hernic Ferrochrome as a result of changes in the service agreement between the two parties after it had been decided to adopt an alternative business model. JIC also proposes to retrench 376 employees at International Ferro Metals because its contract with the company will not be renewed.
·         The Witkop Fluorspar Mine outside Zeerust in the North West Province plans to retrench 220 of its 225 employees before the end of the year. The company said that due to the current economic climate it was no longer profitable enough and was therefore forced to close its doors.
·         In May, Highveld Steel in eMalahleni issued a section 189 notice to the union in terms of which it indicated that almost 100 of its members would be retrenched. Solidarity could, however, negotiate severance packages for its members.
·         COAL of Africa (CoAL) initiated a section 189 retrenchment process at its Mooiplaats Coal Mine, which could result in 20 of 368 employees being retrenched.