Tuesday, 6th July 2004 (2532 views)

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Harmony Gold Mine are due to meet this week under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).

The meeting follows the decision by NUM last month to declare a dispute with gold producer Harmony over plans to close another two of its Free State shafts, putting as many as 2,000 jobs in jeopardy. The rand gold price has again threatened the viability of some of Harmony's shafts.

During a review of some of its unfeasible operations earlier this year, Harmony closed three shafts and managed to save several other operations via continuous operations (conops) and the introduction of cost-effective operational models, Mining Weekly reports.

Harmony's marketing director Ferdi Dippenaar explained that the current slump in the price of the rand has made the cost-effective operation model unviable and said it now seemed likely that the company will be forced to shut its Eland and Merriespruit shafts.

"We are still negotiating with the unions and hope to finalise this issue soon. There are potential lay-offs, but there are certain arranged principles in place between us and the unions, such as conops and voluntary retrenchment, that will come into effect," he told Mining Weekly Online.

Last month, the NUM accused Harmony of not being interested in saving jobs and of mothballing shafts as it waited for the market to improve. The union complained that negotiations with the company has been slow and "marred by management's reluctance to implement the framework agreement".

 

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