JOHANNESBURG Feb 12 (Reuters) – South African miner
Impala Platinum (Implats) will start re-hiring more
than 17,000 workers it fired over an illegal strike from next
week, the main mineworkers union said on Sunday.
The re-hiring will end a three-week industrial relations
squabble that cost the world’s No.2 platinum miner 3,000 ounces
in lost output per day at its Rustenburg mine in South Africa.
“Parties agreed to work together to ensure that all workers
get back to work and the re-employment process will begin on
Tuesday,” the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said.
The stoppage has raised worries that Implats might not be
able to achieve its target of 1.7 million ounces in its 2012
fiscal year.
The labour dispute began when 5,000 drillers downed tools on
Jan. 20 in a walkout that a court declared illegal, leading to
Implats dismissing them after they failed to return to work.
Other workers also failed to report for duty out of sympathy,
leading to a total 17,200 workers being dismissed.
Implats was not immediately available to comment.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Erica Billingham)
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
