Published: 27 September 2013

Anglo American Platinum confirmed on Friday that members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) at its operations in Rustenburg and the North of the Pilanesburg have embarked on a legal strike.

The company said there was a less than 20% attendance throughout its Rustenburg and the North of the Pilanesburg mining operations.

A notice to strike was received from Amcu on September 23  2013.

AMCU notified the Company that its members would commence with strike action from Friday, 27 September 2013 in opposition to the retrenchment notices issued by the Company.

In January 2013, the Company announced its proposals to create a sustainable, competitive and profitable platinum business for the long term benefit of all its stakeholders. Following the announcement of its proposals, the Company engaged in extensive consultations with its recognised unions which saw a very significant reduction in the number of impacted employees from 14, 000 originally proposed to approximately 6000.

Retrenchment avoidance measures like redeployment into vacancies across the group, voluntary severance separation and early retirements have resulted in the number of employees to be retrenched coming down to 3,300.

Anglo American Platinum has been actively working with key stakeholders to co-create a Social Impact Mitigation Plan (SIMP) to reduce impact to the retrenched employees.

The Company confirms that it's AMCU affiliated employees in Rustenburg and the North of the Pilanesburg have embarked on a legal strike and is reporting a less than 20% attendance throughout its Rustenburg and the North of the Pilanesburg mining operations. All the Company's Process operations are operating normally. Production will be impacted by the strike action although sales will not be impacted at this point.

Anglo American Platinum is monitoring the situation and working closely with local authorities to ensure that there is peace and stability during the strike. The Company has engaged AMCU on the picketing rules to ensure a peaceful strike action. The Company confirms that the strike is legal for AMCU affiliated employees only and not for NUM, NUMSA and UASA members. The no-work no-pay principle will apply to employees who are not back at work by the next shift.

Chris Griffith, Anglo American Platinum CEO, said "We have previously stated that the Company is under tremendous economic pressure. Strikes and work stoppages will result in further losses that will hamper plans for future sustainability and further threaten the future of our 45 000 employees. We will continue to engage with AMCU through the established channels to try and return the business to normality".

- businessdaily