400 job losses at AMSA Vereeniging – Vanderbijlpark works next in line

VEREENIGING. – Intensive lobbying and negotiation by the AMSA CEO has saved up to 800 Vereeniging jobs for now – but 400 jobs still face the axe even as the restructuring process turns to Vanderbijlpark Works.
Years of uncertainty, rumour and speculation on the future of AMSA continue to take a heavy toll in stress and psychosocial pressure for thousands of employees and contractors as well as their families with no end in sight for the ongoing drama and trauma.
According to an AMSA statement, the next in line for a dreaded “footprint study” is the struggling Vanderbijlpark Works and company head office functions. International management consultants, McKinsey is already at work there, according to informed sources. AMSA said on Monday that the Meltshop and Forge at Vereeniging Works would face “potential closure” with 400 possible job losses, 800 less than originally feared. Consultations on the process would begin immediately.
Informed sources said that up to 1 000 employee- and contractor jobs could be affected by the footprint study now under way at Vanderbijlpark Works and is expected to be concluded in October. However, a complete closure of the Vereeniging Works has been avoided, due to the efforts of AMSA CEO Paul O’Flaherty and other industry players, including leveraging a 10% import tariff on steel imports from government and a range of other measures.
The AMSA Board took the decision on Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark Works last Friday. A complete restructuring of operations seems on the cards now for AMSA in the foreseeable future, including steps to merge remaining Vereeniging operations with Newcastle operations to “form one long- steel business.” AMSA said it would continue to seek alternatives to job losses wherever possible, but did not specify what these were. News of AMSA job losses comes against a background of intensive efforts for government to take concrete steps to protect the steel industry from cheap Chinese steel imports. Government will implement a 10% import tariff in coming months but first prize for the industry would be designation and localisation – compulsory use of local steel in infrastructure projects and the steel industry designated as strategic by government. Government steps to protect the steel industry are only expected to take effect in the medium to long-term, during six to nine months.