S.Africa's Amplats to cut 474 jobs in restructuring plan

JOHANNESBURG, April 29 (Reuters) - Anglo American Platinum said on Wednesday it would cut 474 jobs this week at its South African operations as part of restructuring plans laid out two years ago.

The world's top producer of the white metal started restructuring plans in 2013 as softer commodity prices and a wave of strikes eroded profits.

Amplats, a unit of Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) , said 774 employees from a group of 1,248 were placed in permanent jobs.

"The remaining 474 affected employees will therefore qualify for Voluntary Separation Packages and other benefits as per the collective agreement with the Unions, concluded in 2013," the company said.

Job cuts are a thorny issue in South Africa where about 25 percent of the population is unemployed.

The company met with fierce resistance from government and unions when it first unveiled its plans to cut jobs in 2013.

Jimmy Gama, treasurer of the platinum belt's largest union, the Association of Mineworkers of Construction Union (AMCU), said the retrenchments were agreed during consultations in 2013.

"These are not new retrenchments," he said. "Other workers were placed as part of the process." (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by James Macharia)