{"id":8186,"date":"2012-02-22T02:23:15","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T00:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/02\/union-meeting-raises-hopes-at-troubled-implats-mine\/"},"modified":"2012-02-22T02:23:15","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T00:23:15","slug":"union-meeting-raises-hopes-at-troubled-implats-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/union-meeting-raises-hopes-at-troubled-implats-mine\/","title":{"rendered":"Union meeting raises hopes at troubled Implats’ mine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

JOHANNESBURG<\/span> Feb 21 (Reuters) – Impala Platinum
\n, the world’s second-largest platinum producer, said on
\nTuesday it was hopeful that most of the workforce at its
\nRustenburg operations would be persuaded by union leaders to
\nreturn to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But there is no guarantee that a mass meeting called by the
\nNational Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will succeed in getting the
\nmineworkers back on the job as many have grievances with NUM and
\nmay not listen to its leaders.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A violent labour dispute at the world’s largest single
\nplatinum mine has already cost Implats at least 80,000 ounces in
\nlost output as the rival Association of Mineworkers and
\nConstruction Union tries to recruit from a workforce that has
\ntraditionally been aligned with NUM.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The dispute centered on a bonus offered to only part of the
\nworkforce and has escalated into a violent struggle between
\ncompeting unions.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Implats said on Tuesday that NUM had finally been able to
\nhold a mass meeting there.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“We are hopeful that after the mass meeting, the NUM will be
\nable to persuade the majority of their members to return to
\nwork,” Implats said in a statement.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Lesiba Seshoka, a spokesman for NUM, was also cautiously
\noptimistic.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“We are hopeful the meeting will lead to the end of the
\nprotest action,” he said.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The workers on Tuesday were being addressed by NUM’s
\nleadership as well as by Zwelinzima Vavi, the general secretary
\nof the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Illegal strike action at Rustenburg led Implats to fire over
\n17,000 workers. The company said the re-employment process was
\ncontinuing with more than 8,000 people re-hired to date.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

These include 995 rock drill operators, but the company has
\nsaid it needs at least 2,000 before it can start hauling
\nplatinum out of the ground again.\t<\/p>\n

(Reporting By Sherilee Lakmidas and Ed Stoddard; Editing by
\nAlison Birrane)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JOHANNESBURG Feb 21 (Reuters) – Impala Platinum , the world’s second-largest platinum producer, said on Tuesday it was hopeful that most of the workforce at its Rustenburg operations would be persuaded by union leaders to return to work. But there is no guarantee that a mass meeting called by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-8186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}