Workers trickle-in at Gold Fields

Only 1200 of the 15000 miners Gold Fields is prepared to fire today turned up for work yesterday. But spokesman Willie Jacobsz confirmed a full turnout at Gold Fields' Beatrix 1, 2 and 3 shafts.

According to TimesLIVE, while about 80% of Gold Fields workers had reported for work at its mine near Welkom, thousands of others might be fired today if they fail to heed the ultimatum given by CEO Nick Holland two days ago.

Jacobsz said it was hard to say if the good turnout at Beatrix 1, 2 and 3 would be replicated at other operations. "We'll get an indication tomorrow whether workers at KDC-West and Beatrix 4 show up," he said. Workers striking illegally will face immediate dismissal if they do not report for duty by 2pm today. About 8,500 workers are still on strike at Gold Fields' KDC-East mine, on the West Rand, but they do not face dismissal today.

South Africa's two other major gold miners, Harmony and AngloGold Ashanti, said that they would wait. AngloGold Ashanti CEO Mark Cutifani said his company was watching the situation closely, while Harmony said it was still using internal processes to resolve the wildcat strike at its Kusasalethu mine, near Carletonville. The strike was declared unprotected by a court only this week and the workers must now be warned that they risk being fired.

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