It is rumoured that Anglo American plans to cut the personnel at its South African head office by 25%. The Anglo Platinum head office allegedly has to be reduced by 35% by December 2009. The chief executive officer of Anglo American, Cynthia Carroll, will announce the decision early in August.

According to the chief executive officer of Anglo Platinum, Neville Nicolau, 11 931 workers have already been dismissed since the last part of 2008, when Anglo Platinum started its retrenchment process.

Meanwhile, the Anglo Platinum head office in Johannesburg was already cut from 701 to 583 in December last year. According to Anglo Platinum, good progress has been made in increasing production by dismissing employees in order to get in line with lowered production targets. The Blesbok shaft in Rustenburg was placed on basic maintenance earlier this year and Nicolau has now indicated that two additional shafts will follow the same route.

“Workers and trade unions support Anglo American in its opposition against Xstrata’s takeover bid, but this position might be reconsidered if Anglo continues its railroading tactics and keeps on dismissing employees,” Gideon du Plessis, deputy general secretary of Solidarity, warned today. “Solidarity is concerned about the process now moving to the head offices. This is an indication that middle and top management are starting to suffer and that the companies are exhibiting a short-term survival strategy. Mining is a long-term business, and dismissing employees to such a drastic extent is indicative of a lack of faith in the future.”