Labour court ruling delays harmony’s restructuring programme
Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE: HMY JSE: HAR) today announced its disappointment with the ruling of the Labour Court, which called for the reinstatement of employees who were in the process of being retrenched at its Free State operations.
“This ruling comes after Harmony has been involved in the restructuring process of its marginal Free State shafts for more than a year. To have the process delayed, on a technical point, could impact further on the viability of the remaining Free State operations. We now have approximately 4 900 employees who are not deployed in productive occupations, which places an additional financial burden on this region. We will engage in consultation with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to ensure that all alternatives have been exhausted and that we can resume the retrenchment process as soon as practically possible” commented Bernard Swanepoel, Chief Executive.
To date approximately 400 employees had accepted retrenchment notices.
The company yesterday indicated that a further 2 500 employees could face possible retrenchment due to Union unwillingness to introduce CONOPS on the Free State operations. Employees in mining, metallurgical and other service departments could be affected.
For more details contact:
Ferdi Dippenaar
Marketing Director
+27(0)82 807 3684
Brenton Saunders
Executive, Investor Relations
+27(0)83 607 4060