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13 November, 2006
ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa is outraged by the further retrenchment of 400 miners in the diamond-mining region of Kimberley, Northern Cape. DeBeers said that it would sack the workers, employed near the Koffiefontein diamond mine’s New Treatment Plant, by the end of the year.
The company has not, as of yet, conducted the proper consultation process with the NUM. The union also is angered at DeBeers for not providing advance notice of the closure so that “avenues or alternatives to retrenchments” could be explored.
“In our view, this constitutes bad faith on the side of the employer, who know the magnitude of problems that come (for people) with this kind of mass retrenchment,” said the NUM.
The New Treatment Plant was only opened in the year 2000, and was expected then to extend the life of diamond-mining operations in Koffiefontein by 15 to 25 years. But DeBeers closed the Koffiefontein mine last year, costing 600 miners their jobs. In all, over 2,500 miners have been left jobless in the Kimberley area.