BusinessLive reports that Sibanye-Stillwater indicated on Friday it had concluded the retrenchment consultation process at its Kloof 4 gold shaft in Gauteng. Fewer jobs than initially planned were cut following consultations with organised labour. The gold and platinum miner said 1,057 workers had accepted transfers to fill vacant positions at its SA gold operation while 550 at Kloof 4 were granted voluntary severance packages (VSPs) and 348 across its SA gold operations took early retirement packages.

Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman said regrettably 575 employees could not be accommodated in the agreed avoidance measures and would be retrenched. The company indicated in September that a restructuring of the Kloof 4 shaft could possibly affect 2,389 employees and 581 contract employees, meaning more than a thousand jobs have been saved through the consultation process. Organised labour will hope for a similar outcome at Sibanye’s platinum operations. At least 4,000 of Sibanye’s total workforce of 46,432 employees in its local PGM operations could be without jobs at the end of the restructuring exercise, which will affect four of its shafts in Rustenburg in the North West. Negotiations at the producer’s PGM business are ongoing.

by Kabelo Khumalo
Ref: SA Labour News