Eastplats cuts contract workers after strike

JOHANNESBURG, July 13 (Reuters) - Eastern Platinum (ELR.TO) (EPSJ.J) said on Monday its subsidiary in South Arica had ended the services of contract mining companies whose employees were involved in industrial action last week.

The Crocodile River Mine said it plans to undertake all core mining activities with workers directly employed by the company, with the change seen to have a short-term impact on production. "The contracts will terminate with immediate effect, " it said in a statement, adding CRM had brought charges against those individuals employed by the contractor companies who were engaged in the actions of last week.

Some 500 contract workers staged a sit-in underground last week at Eastplat's Crocodile River mine in South Africa. [ID:nLB208258] The workers had demanded permanent employment, a promise they say they were given by management but which they say was later revoked. The two-day strike ended on Saturday. (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Keiron Henderson)