Directors:
C A Carolus (Chair), N J Holland
†
** (Chief Executive Officer), P A Schmidt** (Chief Financial Officer), A Andani
#
, P J Bacchus
†
, T P Goodlace, C E
Letton^, P Mahanyele, R P Menell, S P Reid^, Y G H Suleman
^Australian,
†
British,
#
Ghanaian, ** Executive Director
Company Secretary
: MML Mokoka
Gold Fields Limited
Reg. 1968/004880/06
150 Helen Road,
Sandown, Sandton,
2196
Postnet Suite 252
Private Bag X30500
Houghton, 2041
South Africa
Tel +27 11 562 9700
Fax +27 11 562 9838
www.goldfields.com
Investor Enquiries
Avishkar Nagaser
Tel
+27 11 562 9775
Mobile +27 82 312 8692
email
Avishkar.Nagaser@
goldfields.com
Thomas Mengel
Tel
+27 11 562 9849
Mobile +27 72 493 5170
email
Thomas.Mengel@
goldfields.com
Media Enquiries
Sven Lunsche
Tel
+27 11 562 9763
Mobile +27 83 260 9279
email
Sven.Lunsche@
goldfields.com
M E D I A R E L E A S E
NUM gives strike notice at South Deep mine
Johannesburg, 1 November 2018: Gold Fields Limited (Gold Fields)
(JSE, NYSE: GFI) yesterday received a notice by the National Union
of Mineworkers (NUM) of its intention to embark on a protected strike
at its South Deep operation in South Africa to protest retrenchments
at the mine. Under South African labour law, the union is required to
give 48 hours
’
notice of its intention to strike. The strike is set to
commence tomorrow (2 November 2018) afternoon.
About 80% of the mine’s workforce are members of the union and,
should the strike proceed, it is expected to impact adversely on
production during its duration. Safety of employees is paramount and,
if deemed necessary, South Deep would also consider cessation of
production for a limited period of time.
As part of a wide-ranging restructuring announcement to stem South
Deep’s significant cash losses and consolidate current operations,
Gold Fields commenced a Section 189 process with the mine’s two
registered trade unions, the NUM and UASA, on 14 August 2018.
Under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and
Arbitration (CCMA), mine management has engaged the branch
leadership of the two unions since then about various matters related
to the section 189 process.
Consultations have been extensive with various options explored to
improve the sustainability of the mine and limit job losses. This
included an offer of voluntary severance packages, which was taken
up by 177 employees.
Despite these efforts South Deep still has to reduce its workforce by
approximately 1,100 staff members and retrenchment letters were
sent to these employees on 31 October 2018. In addition, the mine will
reduce the number of contractors by approximately 420 people.
The selection criteria used to determine which employees would be
affected were part of the Section 189 consultations and included
length of service, performance and competency criteria and
attendance records. Prior to the commencement of the Section 189
process South Deep employed 3,614 full-time employees and 2,214
contractors.