/ 2 March 2010

NUM drops strike threat at Gold Fields

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Tuesday it had cancelled plans for an indefinite strike at Gold Fields’s operations in the country, which would have stopped output at the world’s number four gold producer.

The union had said it would start the strike on Sunday until the company abolishes a contentious work health and safety fitness test, which it claimed was being used to lay off staff.

“The union decided to suspend the strike action at Gold Fields after Gold Fields’s agreement yesterday [Monday] to accede to the demands of the NUM,” the NUM said in a statement.