NUM Biennial report
- Authors: NUM
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: NUM
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149589 , vital:38866
- Description: Since the Fifth National Congress in 1987 where our union adopted the Freedom Charter and charted a clear political direction for the NUM, many gallant battles have been waged by the mineworkers on many fronts. 1987 was the year in which our union launched its campaign to effect control of miners working lives. It was a year when mineworkers took control indeed in keeping with the Fifth Congress Slogan -"1987 THE YEAR MINEWORKERS TAKE CONTROL", as many comrades began to take over the hostels, particularly in the Witbank Region which resulted in families moving into the hostels for a period of time. Although the process remained uneven, the initiative was an important indicator of the willingness of the workers to take action and implement resolutions adopted by our union. In spite of the existence of the State of Emergency, the dedication, commitment, spirit and enthusiasm of mineworkers remained high. 1987 was also the year in which the NUM made its mark on the mining industry with the historic Great Miners Strike. This action, involving over 340 000 workers was the biggest of its kind in South African Labour History, and also the biggest action by workers of its kind on the African continent. We challenged some of the fundamental policies of the mining industry, in particular, the concept of poverty wages which has become one of the major battle grounds for our union. Despite mass dismissals of 50 000 workers, our union has remained and continues to mobilise and organise mineworkers against the oppressive and exploitative conditions. 1987 will certainly go down in history as the year of mass action by mineworkers throughout South Africa. It is well known that the strike did affect our organisation in many areas. Actions by management to roll back the gains of our union continued unabated after the strike right through until now.
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- Date Issued: 1989
Eskom wage arbitration
- Authors: NUM
- Date: Oct 1988
- Subjects: NUM
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/134905 , vital:37216
- Description: Eskom increased the wages of general workers by 10% from 1 July- 1988, after the unions had rejected a 12% offer. The trade unions declared a dispute with Eskom, and have demanded a 20% wage increase (including the 10% increase implemented unilaterally), to be backdated to 1 July 1988. This document outlines the case for a higher wage increase than that granted by Eskom. All the wage calculations and projections assume that the increased wage will be back-dated to 1 July 1988. This report has been written by the Collective Bargaining Department of the National Union of Mineworkers in collaboration with the Labour Research Service in Cape Town.
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- Date Issued: Oct 1988
Fifth national congress - Annual report
- Authors: NUM
- Date: 1987
- Subjects: NUM
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/154199 , vital:39620
- Description: 1986 was a tumultuous year as mineworkers waged gallant battles on many fronts. It was a year when mineworkers were continuously compelled to take militant action to advance not only their cause as mineworkers but to advance the liberation struggle. The State of Emergency brought about a level of dedication and commitment amongst mineworkers that had never been experienced before as several structures of the union had to function without their leaders for some time. The intransigence of bosses in wage negotiations propelled mineworkers to unprecedented levels of militancy and compelled many employers to capitulate in the end. 1986 saw mineworkers participating in many more strikes than other workers and their participation in nationwide stayaways was clear evidence that "THE MINERS HAVE ARRIVED."
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- Date Issued: 1987
NUM press cutting service
- Authors: NUM
- Date: 1987
- Subjects: NUM
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168592 , vital:41628
- Description: The African National Congress, 75 years old tomorrow, is no longer being written off in South Africa as “the world’s least successful terrorist organisation.” The black nationalist movement, which turned to violence after it was banned in 1960, is nowhere near a classic guerilla' victory in its fight for majority rule. But after three years of unprecedented black revolt in South Africa's townships, it has won recognition from the Government as its main enemy and a major security threat. Political analysts say this has in turn helped the outlawed ANC boost its overt political support in the townships — an increasingly important goal since it accepted how South African conditions impede conventional guerilla warfare. South African Government sources used to pour scorn on the ANC’s guerilla operations and it justified crackdowns on dissent by speaking in general terms of an international, communist-backed' "total onslaught" against its rule.
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- Date Issued: 1987
An investigation commissioned by the National Union of Mineworkers
- Authors: NUM
- Date: July 1985
- Subjects: NUM
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/134861 , vital:37212
- Description: The University of the Witwatersrand has a long established relationship with the mining industry. Indeed, its origins go back to the South African School of Mines established in Kimberley in 1896. (1). Since 1917, the Chamber of Mines has given direct grants to the University and its predecessors. In fact, the Chamber remains our largest private donor. Murray has shown in his authoritative study of the early years of the University that there have been occasions in our history when the Chamber has felt that it has not received a satisfactory return upon its massive investment in the University (2). On balance, however, the University can rightly claim to have served the Chamber well over the years. In recent years, the other side of the industry's history and social structure has been a focus of systematic investigation in this University. Here, van Onselen's Chibaro stands out : a pioneering attempt to create historically the social world of the compound in the early years of the mining industry in Southern Rhodesia. In our own Department, Moodie, Bozzoli, and Innes have all contributed to our knowledge of the social structure of mining.
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- Date Issued: July 1985
Commission of inquiry to investigate the development of a comprehensive labour market policy
- Authors: NUM
- Date: 1985
- Subjects: NUM
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/250662 , vital:52036
- Description: In 1985, the Central Statistical Services and the Chamber of Mines ceased publishing a racial breakdown of mining industry employment. This marked the end of a statistical series that dated back for almost 100 years. Since 1985, there is no official series of racially segmented data for the mining industry, while the racial breakdown of employment in all other sectors of the economy was published up until 1992. From 1993, the Central Statistical Services introduced a new “Unspecified Race” category into its published employment data, making the identification of trends in employment and income by race less certain. The statistical information on racial issues in this submission must reflect these difficulties with the data. In respect of gold and coal mines that are members of the Chamber of Mines, the Chamber periodically has made available unpublished information on employment and total wages after 1985, grouped into “skilled employees” and “unskilled / semi-skilled employees.” Until about 1989, when legal barriers to the employment of blacks in skilled jobs were removed, the two Chamber categories reflect the old “White” and “Non-White” categories used by the Chamber before 1986. Since 1989, a small, but slowly increasing number, of skilled workers have been black, but this has not been taken into account in any of the statistics presented for the gold and the coal sectors. “Black” employment in the gold and coal mining industry thus refers to employees in Categories 1 to 8, the only groups for which the NUM currently bargains with Chamber member mines.
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- Date Issued: 1985
All mineral wealth to workers
- Authors: NUM
- Date: 1982 - 1992
- Subjects: NUM
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/151168 , vital:39035
- Description: Since the formation of our Union the NUM has participated in a number of campaigns ranging from local and union specific to national political campaigns
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- Date Issued: 1982 - 1992