South Africa: Three strikes and you’re out?

He argued that migrant labour was at the heart of the creation of the South African mining industry from its inception right through the Apartheid era.

Post-Apartheid reforms were won by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the form of allowances and real wage increases. But the basic structure of life for miners has changed little. The failure of the NUM and the existing collective bargaining process to deliver for miners, especially the rock drill operators, has resulted in massive defections to the AMCU.

Hartford writes: “The strike wave crisis emerges from the landscape of gross inequality and poverty, and is made intolerable by the additional financial and work cycle burdens that arise from the Apartheid migrant labour system”.

The reforms that he called for then – transformation of the migrant labour system and an overhaul of stakeholder relationships – have not materialised. And so the strikes go on.

In South Africa, the mining sector as a whole employs some 525,000 people, 200,000 of whom work in the platinum group metals (PGM) sector. The sector is heavily unionised and entry-level wages are around twice that of many other sectors – and indeed are double average wages. Nevertheless, mining work is more dirty and dangerous than your average job.

AMCU has emerged as a potent force in a landscape overwhelmingly dominated by the ruling ANC. In January, about 60% of miners working for Amplats and Implats were AMCU members, as were more than 80% of Lonmin miners.

The key factor for the future of the AMCU is whether the pain inflicted on the strikers’ wallets through lost wages is greater or less than the perceived benefits generated by the gains – both financial and psychological – of the strike.

Additionally, AMCU’s ability to transform itself into a permanent feature on the political landscape with a more solid and formal infrastructure and to transcend (rather than merely extend) the personality of its leader may prove decisive.

The latest AMCU-led wildcat strike at Implats Marula mine suggests it is taking the battle to the eastern wing of the platinum belt, having already conquered the western.

The 2,000 striking workers are keen to taste the up-to 20% increases of those working in the east, the NUM having delivered them a relatively low 8%. Comparisons are being made to what happened at Rustenberg, where the AMCU swept up workers in 2012.

However, the tide is not uniformly in AMCU’s favour. South Africa’s Labour Court ruled against AMCU (the minority union in this instance) in June and in favour of Sibanye Gold, Harmony Gold and AngloGold Ashanti, forbidding the union from striking. The court ruled that the two-year 2013 wage settlement was binding.

Proposed reform
The Mining Charter’s commitment (itself building on the promise regarding the nation’s resources in the Freedom Charter), 10 years after its introduction – to 26% BEE ownership, a minimum 40% participation in management and the reform of miners’ living conditions must be implemented 100%, the Minister has said. He has threatened to cancel the licences of those companies that do not fully comply.