In a massive strike, South African mineworkers have brought the country’s lucrative platinum mining industry to a virtual standstill. Under the banner of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, around 80,000 workers are striking at the countries three largest producers of platinum, Anglo-American, Impala, and Lonmin.
The AMCU was born in the wake of the Lonmin massacre, in which striking workers were brutally killed by police, and the depth of capitalist exploitation in South Africa was on full display. This industry-wide action is a sign that platinum workers remain unbowed and are prepared not only to continue but also intensify their struggle for a decent living.
The strikers are demanding a doubling of the minimum monthly wage to what would be the equivalent of $1,150. Not surprisingly the massive mining firms have claimed that this wage demand is too high and unsustainable. Workers can of course counter that their terrible standards of living are unsustainable.
A previous article on the Marikana massacre in Liberation News gives a glimpse of the terrible conditions for workers in many of these areas:
43.8 percent of those age 20-29 are unemployed, while 27.5 percent aged 30-39 have no job.
Around 67 percent of the region lives on roughly $200 or less a month. In Rustenburg, the district seat, 41 percent of people live in what are delicately called “informal dwellings,” or more accurately, shacks. Thirty-five percent of adults in Bojanala are functionally illiterate and only 20 percent have completed a high school education. While the exact statistics are incomplete, Bojanala also has the dubious distinction of having the third-highest rate of HIV/AIDS transmission of any South African District.
Lonmin sponsors a school in Marikana…at which researchers found many classrooms contaminated with asbestos.
Despite their repeated insistence that they can’t afford the requested wage increases, the union has pointed out some of these companies are giving out million dollar bonuses to executives, and Anglo-American has just reported that they saw a significant increase in per-share profits in 2013.
In reality the platinum mining companies and the South African mining industry in general are entering into a phase they refer to as “restructuring” that has and will continue to involve the layoff of tens of thousands of workers. Management argues that industrial action contributes significantly to the “need” for more layoffs in an attempt to blackmail workers into not fighting for a better living. They hope that the fear of being thrown even further into a poverty-stricken existence will weaken and ultimately crush unions making it even easier for the mine bosses to line their pockets with profit.
Ominously the police have deployed armored personnel carriers to roam around communities where strikes are taking place. While they claim this is simply to keep order, in the wake of the Marikana massacre the proliferation of police and private security in the strike zone sends a clear message, and it isn’t one of safety and security.
The mining companies are losing as much as $9 million a day. The ANC government is currently brokering talks between the industry and the AMCU, which will resume on January 27. However both sides appear in no mood to make concessions meaning the indefinite strike could drag on, and continue to intensify.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation salutes the miners in the platinum belt for having the courage to stand up against the powerful mining industry for basic human dignity. We urge all progressive-minded people in the United States to raise their voices in support of the just demands of the workers in the platinum belt.
