The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday announced its decision to suspend the current wage negotiations between the union and gold mining giant Harmony.
This was in reaction to the company’s announcement last Friday that it might have to close six of its mine shafts, which could cost more than 6Â 300 jobs.
Harmony is the country’s third-biggest gold producer and employs about 53Â 000 people.
Last week it announced its intention to close six of its mine shafts citing the impact of the weak gold-price environment.
Shafts that are likely to be closed include Welkom 1, Orkney 6, Eland (in the Free State) and Merriespruit 3.
Masimong 4 shafts and Nyala shafts have been given notice of a 60-day statutory review, which has already started.
The wage negotiations between the NUM and Harmony began on March 23 and have thus far had three sittings, according to the union.
“We see no reason to continue negotiating with Harmony in this situation of uncertainty. Besides, how can the company expect us to negotiate wages and conditions of services for people they have already placed on a retrenchment path?
“Closure of shafts is going to affect these workers we are negotiating for directly.
“What irks me is that at no point when we began this process did Harmony mention this issue of retrenchments,” said Welcome Mboniso, head of production at the NUM in a statement on Tuesday.
Mboniso, who is also the NUM’s chief negotiator in the Harmony talks, accused the company of negotiating in bad faith while it was aware of its intention to announce closures.
The NUM said: “The company did not see it fit to engage it in advance and alert it. It is therefore our view that the matter of negotiations for officials can only be resolved [in] a climate where and when the present and future of our members is clear.”
Approached by the Mail & Guardian Online on Tuesday, Ferdi Dippenaar, Harmony marketing director, declined to comment, saying he first needed to see the NUM statement.
“I am not trying to be difficult, but it would make no sense for me to comment before I see the statement,” said Dippenaar.
NUM general secretary Gwede Mantashe on Monday said the union would convene a council on Wednesday during which a war plan would be discussed.