Amcu threatens to shut down Impala’s mines over job cuts
Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa proposes that the government nationalise the five of 11 shafts that Implats has proposed closing or selling
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) threatened to bring all of Impala Platinum’s South African mines to a standstill around the loss of 13,000 jobs at the world’s second-largest platinum miner. Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa proposed that the government nationalise the five of 11 shafts that Implats has proposed closing or selling over the next two years to restore profitability to its flagship Rustenburg mining lease area and to lower its workforce to 27,000 people from 40,000. In a typically bellicose stance from Mathunjwa, he threatened that if talks with Implats failed and all Amcu’s avoidance measures were not considered and "put in practice", then Amcu would bring the company’s South African mines to a complete halt. "We’ll hit them where it matters most. We’ll ask for secondary strikes … so if Impala owns mines in Limpopo we will make sure that not one ounce of platinum will leave the ground. "We are capable of doing that. We are not bluffing," Mathu...
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