The militant labour union dominating South Africa’s platinum sector is seeking to extend to the gold mines the marathon strike threatening to drive the country into recession.
The Union’s determined to reduce the pay of executives it says create a disproportionate wage age perpetuating the inequities of the apartheid system overthrown two decades ago.
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The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union known as AMCU’s in South Africa’s Labour Court contesting a bid by the Chamber of Mines to prevent the platinum miners’strike now in its fifth month spreading to the gold sector.
Earlier this week that court rejected an AMCU bid to prevent employers contacting the workers directly through text messages.
Counsel for the union argued that it was the miners unions that dismantled apartheid
And any bid to prevent their seeking a wage of 900 euros a month – twice their current remunetration – undermines this historic progress.
The Chamber of Mines argues that AMCU, a relatively newcomer to the scene, is not a party to the collective agreement is has with unions in the gold sector.
The Platinum miners strike has cost workers 700 million euros in lost wages and bled two billion euros off the mine owners’ earnings.
It’s created the biggest slump in mining output in nearly 40 years and threatens to drive the South African economy into recession.