Members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and MWU-Solidarity walked out after Eskom decided to unilaterally implement its wage offer of raises between 7 percent and 9 percent. The unions wanted 11 percent for the lowest paid workers and 9 percent for the highest paid. Inflation last year ran at 7 percent.

The contract settlement included an immediate 9 percent raise for the lowest paid workers and an additional 1 percent in January 2002. The highest paid workers will get 7 percent now and an additional 0.5 percent in January. They also won an extension of paid maternity leave from three to four months. Women can take a fifth month of leave and receive unemployment compensation at about one-third of their regular pay.

The unions reported that 90 percent of the workforce participated in the strike and thousands of the strikers took part in protest marches across the country.

During their strike the unions won an important ruling by the Labour Court in Johannesburg that the company had no right to unilaterally impose its wage proposal. Eskom also had to back off from an attempt to get a court restraining order to prevent workers involved in "minimum essential service" from joining the strike.  
 
Miners and steelworkers plan strike
Meanwhile, the NUM declared its intention to strike at three major gold mines--Goldfields, Harmony, and Durban Roodepoort--that have not reached agreement with the unions on wages and annual leave.

The walkout is set to begin August 1 and involves 50,000 miners. The AngloGold and Placerdome mining companies avoided being struck by agreeing to the union's demand to implement a minimum monthly wage of 2,000 rand (US$240) over the next two years and to increase workers' annual leave.

Most gold miners currently receive 21 days paid leave each year. The union wants to extend this to 30 days over the next two years. This is especially important because most miners live in hostels away from their families most of the year, in a system of migrant labor that was institutionalized under the former apartheid regime.

The NUM had also prepared for strike action against three coal mining companies that had held out against the union's contract demands. The union announced July 27 that it had accepted an improved offer on wages, meal breaks, annual leave, and medical disability payments.

The contract includes an 8 percent raise now and an additional 7.5 percent next year, according to NUM spokesperson Moferefere Lekorotsoana. Workers at the lower end of the pay scale will receive additional raises to bring them up to a minimum of R2,000 per month. The miners won a 30-minute meal break, with the bosses providing food or a cash allowance. The companies agreed to extend medical disability payments to terminally ill workers, with an increased cap.

Severance pay had been capped at two weeks pay for every year of service for up to 10 years. Now workers with more than 10 years seniority will receive a week's pay for every additional year of service. In addition to high rates of terminal illnesses such as AIDS, many workers are permanently disabled from injuries in the mines. According to the Financial Times, one gold miner out of every 1,000 is killed every year in workplace accidents.

In other developments, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa has given notice that up to 15,000 members at the steel division of Iscor Ltd. will strike at 6 a.m. August 3. The union is demanding an across-the-board pay raise of 15 percent, while the company has offered 7 percent.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home