Gold Fields could fire 11,000 miners if they refuse to work
UP TO 11,000 Gold Fields workers could be dismissed this morning if they refuse to return to work to end a five-week strike at the South African miner’s KDC West operation.
The five-week strike, which has cost Gold Fields around ZAR1.3bn (£93m) in revenue, has lost the precious metal miner around 65,000 ounces of gold.
Earlier this week Gold Fields issued a final ultimatum to the striking employees at KDC West, which said if they did not report for the last shift of the day at 2pm yesterday, they would face immediate dismissal.
The ultimatum affects 11,000 of the 15,000 miners at the KDC West.
The South African firm said yesterday that there was a full turnout at its Beatrix 4 shaft, and 2,800 striking employees reported for work there yesterday. All 6,200 employees at the 1, 2 and 3 shafts returned to work earlier in the week.
Anglo American Platinum said yesterday it would hold off dismissing striking employees at its Union and Amandelbult mines to talk to the unions.