De Beers plans to lay off 1,214 workers as it pauses production at its Venetia mine, according to a local union.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has criticized the company and De Beers Sightholder Sales South Africa (DBSSSA) for its intention to halt mining at the Venetia deposit in South Africa for two years, the union said last week. The decision could affect the income of 1,134 permanent workers at the mine and 80 employees at DBSSSA, NUM added.

The union also slammed the miner for presenting the decision as sudden and unavoidable.

“Workers cannot be treated as disposable tools that are discarded whenever companies face economic pressures,” said NUM diamond sector chief negotiator, Masibulele Naki. “De Beers has known about the challenges confronting the diamond market for a long time. It is therefore disingenuous to present this announcement as a sudden crisis. Workers and their trade union should have been engaged honestly and transparently long before a Section 189A [dismissal] notice was issued.”

The union stressed that layoffs should not be a predetermined outcome of the consultation process under Section 189A. The goal of these meetings, related to the Labor Relations Act, is to explore alternatives to job losses rather than formalize decisions employers have already made.

De Beers and DBSSSA should consider viable alternatives, NUM urged. These include reviewing executive and management costs, retraining and upskilling programs and a decrease in nonessential expenditure.

The union pledged to participate fully in the consultation process and use all available organizational, legal and collective bargaining channels to protect its members.