Johannesburg - The desperation of the unemployed in South Africa was demonstrated this week when close to 40 000 people applied for 1 000 posts at Glencore Xstrata after last month’s dismissals at three of the company’s chrome operations near Steelpoort in Limpopo.
The total of 38 398 applications for the advertised posts drove home Statistics SA’s latest figures, which show that unemployment increased from 24.9 percent to 25.2 percent in the first quarter.
“We at this point cannot be certain when the recruitment process will be finalised. However, we can confirm that the recruitment process is under way,” Chris Tsatsawane, the company’s chrome operations spokesman, said yesterday.
The recruitment drive, which closed at the end of business on Monday, also gave dismissed employees an opportunity to re-apply.
The mining sector lost about 1 000 jobs between January and March, according to Stats SA.
Economists at Nomura warned last month that up to 145 500 jobs and 60 percent of South Africa’s platinum output could be at risk in the next few years.
This warning echoes that made by employment agency Adcorp, in the aftermath of the Marikana killings, that an estimated 200 000 jobs would be lost in the mining sector over the next decade due to higher wage settlements and problematic labour relations.
The 1 000 jobs are still the subject of an intense battle between the company and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu). Union members
downed tools on May 28 after calling for the dismissal of a shift supervisor whom they accused of racism.
On Friday Amcu delivered a memorandum to Glencore Xstrata in which it raised concerns about management’s alleged racist insults of staff, charges subsequently denied by the company. It demanded a response within seven days on how Glencore Xstrata would address the concerns.
In its response, released publicly on Monday, Glencore Xstrata denied racism and racial discrimination at its alloys division. It said it was investigating the allegations of racism and racial remarks with all parties concerned.
Glencore Xstrata also emphasised that the extension of the deadline to Monday should not raise expectations that the dismissed employees would be reinstated.
“All vacant positions will be filled on merit, based on the best person for the job,” the company said in response to a memorandum from Amcu.
However, Amcu treasurer Jimmy Gama insisted that the employees should be reinstated as part of attempts to bring back stability to the sector.
“If the government is serious about stabilising the industry, it must ask the company why it is not addressing racism,” Gama said yesterday.
The dismissed employees include rock drill operators as well as machine operators.
In another development, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said it would conduct its wage negotiations in conjunction with restructuring plans that had been deferred since January.
The company said it would start wage talks with unions in August, which would run at the same time as talks about plans to eliminate 6 000 jobs at mines to help return to profit.
“We expect to run a parallel process,” Amplats spokeswoman Thabisile Phumo said in response to questions.
The company had received wage demands from Amcu, which represents 41 percent of its employees. Amplats had asked other unions to do the same, she said. - Business Report