GOLD: Court sides with Gold Fields as South Deep strike continues

SOUTH AFRICA – The strike by National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members that began on Nov. 2 continues at the South Deep gold mine. About 150 to 200 union members blockaded the entrances to the mine. [caption id="attachment_1003725502" align="alignright" width="328"] Production has ground to a halt at the South Deep gold mine as NUM members walked out last week. (Image: Gold Fields)[/caption] The job action began when owner Gold Fields announced its plan to retrench staff on Aug. 14. The plan was to cut 1,560 employee and contractor jobs at the mine. By the company’s reckoning, the project lost R295 million in Q2 2018, and Q3 numbers are due out this week. Gold Fields successfully applied to the court which granted an injunction telling NUM members to respect the rights of non-striking personnel. The South Deep mine has 3,614 full time employees and 1,940 contract workers. Gold Fields insists that it will not back down from its decision to reduce the workforce and says the strike may only cause more job losses. Follow the story at www.GoldFields.com.