Numsa protests over hundreds of looming job cuts

Members of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa, (Numsa), are protesting against the planned retrenchment of about 800 employees at BHP Billiton in Richard's Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast.

They are marching from the Veldenvlei community sports ground to ALUSAF Hillside Aluminium to hand over a memorandum to a company representative.

Numsa regional secretary, Mbuso Ngubane, says BHP Billiton decided to retrench the workers following a loss of production due to load shedding. Ngubane says they want the company to look at other alternatives.

"If Bell Equipment, a company situated in the same area in Richard's Bay can buy a generator at the value of seven million in attempt to ensure they prevent retrenchment, why can't BHP Billiton do the same?"