"A court order has declared the strike illegal and the company will follow due legal process with all employees who do not report for duty on Tuesday, January 24," company spokesman Bob Gilmour said.
Implats, which produced 3.69 million ounces of platinum group metals in the 2010 financial year, has been losing output of 3 000 ounces of platinum a day since the strike started on Friday. Eddie Majadibodu, the chief negotiator for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) at Implats, said yesterday that the organisation was in a difficult position as the gulf between workers and the company was growing. "I am not confident the strike will be over (today). The company says it cannot engage until employees go back to work, and workers will not go back to work until the company adjusts their salaries."
Last October, Implats, which has 49 500 staff in South Africa, agreed on a two-year wage settlement with the NUM. The offer provided for a 10 percent increase in basic pay to A- and B-level employees and 8.5 percent to C-level employees, along with various amendments to other benefits, in the first year. According to IOL, the agreement included an increase of 10 percent, 9 percent and 8 percent to A-, B- and C-level employees, respectively, in the second year. Majadibodu said that over and above the two-year salary agreement, Implats adjusted the salaries of miners to retain the group's workforce, but the rock drill operators' salaries remained unchanged. Implats shares declined 1.11 percent to close trade at R176.01 on the JSE yesterday.
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