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Cape Town - Fin24 user Graham Goetze says the the entire platinum mines tragedy is because of a power struggle between the unions.
He was responding to a call for debate on the platinum miners strike by labour columnist Terry Bell in his weekly Labour Wrap.
He writes:
"I won’t pretend to have an in-depth knowledge of the issues around the miners’ strike, but I strongly believe that the crux of this entire tragedy is a power struggle between the unions.
I see Amcu as having come off a weak power base and seeing an opportunity to use the miners as pawns in their battle. Get in first and promise the unsuspecting miners anything that they’d like to hear regardless of how achievable it is, and overnight you have a huge support base.
It worked and Numsa were caught off balance and lost support consequently.
So these union bosses or scum-bags as they should really be termed, have achieved their aims and the poor miners carry on starving or living on measly hand-outs from the very people (i.e. Capitalists) who the unions decry.
Answer: Simple – throw the union leaders in jail where they belong and bring in some honest and credible people to negotiate a decent wage for the miners, while they go back to work.
So simple, but then I know nothing about politics, I’m only a humble engineer trying to follow rules.
Terry Bell responds:
Hi Graham
The first thing I will concede is that you obviously do not have an in-depth knowledge of the issues.
This strike comes off the back of the 2012 Marikana massacre when the majority of strikers were members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) who were seen by their members to have failed them.
These workers elected worker committees and Amcu and metalworkers' union, Numsa, stepped into the organisational vacuum.
Amcu agreed to represent the miners on the major platinum mines on the basis of respecting their demands. And the one that had emerged as far back as August 2012, was for entry level pay of R12 500.
The basis for this had nothing to do with inter-union rivalry although, of course, NUM is desperate to try to regain its former majority status on those mines.
I am at a loss to know what aims you ascribe to what you term (in your polite variation) "union bosses" or, for that matter, which capitalists are providing "measly hand-outs".
Regards
- Fin24
* Terry Bell is an independent political, economic and labour analyst. Views expressed are his own. Follow him on twitter @telbelsa.
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyFin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views of users published on Fin24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24. .
He was responding to a call for debate on the platinum miners strike by labour columnist Terry Bell in his weekly Labour Wrap.
He writes:
"I won’t pretend to have an in-depth knowledge of the issues around the miners’ strike, but I strongly believe that the crux of this entire tragedy is a power struggle between the unions.
I see Amcu as having come off a weak power base and seeing an opportunity to use the miners as pawns in their battle. Get in first and promise the unsuspecting miners anything that they’d like to hear regardless of how achievable it is, and overnight you have a huge support base.
It worked and Numsa were caught off balance and lost support consequently.
So these union bosses or scum-bags as they should really be termed, have achieved their aims and the poor miners carry on starving or living on measly hand-outs from the very people (i.e. Capitalists) who the unions decry.
Answer: Simple – throw the union leaders in jail where they belong and bring in some honest and credible people to negotiate a decent wage for the miners, while they go back to work.
So simple, but then I know nothing about politics, I’m only a humble engineer trying to follow rules.
Terry Bell responds:
Hi Graham
The first thing I will concede is that you obviously do not have an in-depth knowledge of the issues.
This strike comes off the back of the 2012 Marikana massacre when the majority of strikers were members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) who were seen by their members to have failed them.
These workers elected worker committees and Amcu and metalworkers' union, Numsa, stepped into the organisational vacuum.
Amcu agreed to represent the miners on the major platinum mines on the basis of respecting their demands. And the one that had emerged as far back as August 2012, was for entry level pay of R12 500.
The basis for this had nothing to do with inter-union rivalry although, of course, NUM is desperate to try to regain its former majority status on those mines.
I am at a loss to know what aims you ascribe to what you term (in your polite variation) "union bosses" or, for that matter, which capitalists are providing "measly hand-outs".
Regards
- Fin24
* Terry Bell is an independent political, economic and labour analyst. Views expressed are his own. Follow him on twitter @telbelsa.
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyFin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views of users published on Fin24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24. .
