http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/10/201210611548324879.html
and.....
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Amplats-strike-matter-of-life-or-death-20121006
Wildcat strikes have raged at Anglo Platinum's Rustenburg mines for three weeks. The company decided to dismiss the workers after disciplinary hearings - which the strikers chose not to attend - were completed.
This Wednesday, workers will have the right to appeal the dismissal.
Seshoka said that Num had not yet made a decision on whether to appeal on its members' behalf, as it first wanted to see what the outcome of Monday's Chamber of mines meeting would be.
Meanwhile, an independent organiser for the mine strikes, Mamatlwe Sebei echoed Seshoka's concerns.
"This strike is a matter of life and death. These [dismissals] unfortunately will only escalate violence."
The workers would not appeal the dismissals, Sebei added.
"They [management] are going to have to reinstate the workers... Amplats is not going to operate without its workers."He said while the possible violence would be "unacceptable", at the moment the miners felt that their dismissals were "like saying to someone who is about to have his head cut off that you must move your hair".
Sebei said he was from a democratic socialist movement which was helping the Amplats miners, who had lost faith in the unions, to organise their strike action.
Hardened resolve
He said, miners had "hardened their resolve to guarantee" that all Anglo Platinum shafts would be on strike by next week.
"We are going to make sure that we bring the whole of Anglo Platinum to its knees."
Sebei said the only solution to the strike was "constructive discussion" around the miners' "simple, modest and legitimate" demand for a minimum wage for everyone of R12 500.
He said in the long term the miners wanted to see the mines nationalised.
"These mines are the property of the people... The companies are just parasites that will never contribute to the development of this country."
Sebei said that since the end of apartheid, living conditions "for the better part, have only got worse... Since the end of apartheid you only see more and more shacks and squatter camps around the mines."
He said, consequently, the miners' stand that they would rather die than stop striking was "not an empty threat".
| South Africa miners protest mass sacking | |||
Workers rally to press Anglo American Platinum to revoke its decision to fire 12,000 wildcat strikers.
Last Modified: 06 Oct 2012 11:52
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In all, about 75,000 miners are currently on strike in the gold and platinum sectors, analysts say [AFP]
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| Hundreds of the 12,000 miners fired by the world's largest platinum producer in South Africa have gathered to protest their dismissal and mourn a colleague killed in clashes with police.
The workers meeting on Saturday at a stadium in the northern town of Rustenburg, 120km northwest of Johannesburg, would also debate how to respond to the mass dismissal by Anglo American Platinum (Amplats).
"Ignore those SMS's you've received saying you have been dismissed," one labour leader was quoted as saying by radio broadcaster Eyewitness News. Groups of workers from various shafts made their way into the stadium under police escort, singing and chanting slogans, while a helicopter circled the area. One miner told AFP news agency they would use violence to force mine management to rehire them. "If they are not willing to talk to us many things will be burnt starting from today," said Hendrick Mpondo, 27. 'Yet another assassination' Al Jazeera's Tania Page, reporting from Rustenberg, said the miners she spoke to reiterated that the sackings would not deter their protests. "They were so determined to get this money that they were never going to back down from a big pay raise," she said. Meanwhile, in the nearby town of Marikana, a National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) branch leader at a different mine was shot dead on Friday evening, in what the union has described as an assassination. "The NUM is shocked at yet another assassination of one of its branch leaders in Marikana," the union said in a statement.
"This comes after the death of the NUM branch chairperson last weekend and the attack on another branch leader who escaped while his wife was killed," said NUM.
Unions have come under fire as workers reject the traditional negotiation structures and accuse their associations of plotting with mine managers. Around 28,000 Amplats workers have been on a wildcat strike for three weeks at the firm's facilities in Rustenburg, which account for around a quarter of world platinum production. Amplats on Friday said the miners failed to appear before disciplinary hearings "and have therefore been dismissed in their absence". It is the latest crisis to hit South Africa's vital minerals sector, which has been crippled by a wave of violent disputes over miners' pay since August. The company said the strike had so far cost 700 million rand ($80m) in lost revenue. "Despite the company's repeated calls for employees to return to work, we have continued to experience attendance levels of less than 20 per cent," Amplats said in a statement. 'Leaving us with no choice' But with many miners unwilling to give up their demands for higher pay and Amplats taking a tough line, the spectre of violence looms.In August, 46 people died during a strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in nearby Marikana. "Things now are tuning to a point," said Gaddhafi Mdoda a worker and activist. "They are leaving us with no choice." At least seven people have been killed around Rustenburg in strike-related violence this week. Late on Thursday, one miner was killed when police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a group of 300 illegal strikers protesting on a hilltop close to the mines.
With around 100,000 workers currently on strike across the country, South African President Jacob Zuma - who has publicly kept his distance from the crisis - has called for the work stoppages to end. "We should not seek to portray ourselves as a nation that is perpetually fighting," he told business leaders in Johannesburg. Investors, already frightened by earlier violence, warned Friday's dismissals could deepen a crisis that has already paralysed an industry that accounts for around 20 per cent of the continental powerhouse's GDP. "The government is doing nothing," said Peter Attard Montalto, a strategist with Japanese bank Nomura, who warned the strikes had already cut 0.2 to 0.3 per cent off third quarter growth. Analysts have warned that the strikers' demands will result in job losses in the country where one in every four employable people is already out of work.
|
and.....
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Amplats-strike-matter-of-life-or-death-20121006
Amplats strike 'matter of life or death'
2012-10-06 14:50
Striking Amplats mineworkers. (Lucky Nxumalo, City Press
- Amplats strike 'matter of life or death' - 06 Oct
- Fired miners threaten violence - 06 Oct
- Fired Amplats workers gather for protest - 06 Oct
- Marikana branch leader assassinated - Num -06 Oct
- Oliphant calls for stability - 05 Oct
- Mixed reaction to Amplats dismissals - 05 Oct
- Kumba meets workers' reps - 05 Oct
- Amplats fires 12 000 as strikes escalate - 05 Oct
- Strike at Petra over - 05 Oct
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- Biting at the Grave
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@IvorMokwena RT @CharlduPlessc: RT@CharlduPlessc: # amplats The long and short of the meeting is that striking amplatsworkers are no
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@Rubie_Kolikas Myjoyonline.comUPDATE 1-S.African strikers press amplats to revoke sackingsReuters* Hundreds hold rally at plati... http
@BusinessNewsTop@BusinessNewsTop UPDATE 1-S.African strikers press amplats to revoke sackings - Reuters http://t.co/meVPzwnF
Johannesburg - The wildcat strike by 12 000 workers at Anglo American Platinum's (Amplats) Rustenburg mine could turn violent after their dismissal this week, the National Union of Mineworkers said on Saturday.
"It is likely to happen now; the strike will get more violent," said Num spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka.
He said workers were gathering on Saturday at Bleskop stadium to discuss the way forward after they received dismissal notices on Friday. "You can see the anger. This is going to take a new dimension."
Seshoka said that while the company was in its "legal rights" to issue the dismissal notices, as the strike was illegal, it was not a constructive move.
"It's like you can't extinguish a fire with petrol. You have to act in a manner that promotes dialogue."
Genuine demands
Seshoka said, although their workers were in the wrong by embarking on an illegal strike, "their demands are genuine".He said the best avenue for negotiations was for the platinum bosses and unions to meet at the Chamber of Mines; as was going to happen on Monday.
"It is likely to happen now; the strike will get more violent," said Num spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka.
He said workers were gathering on Saturday at Bleskop stadium to discuss the way forward after they received dismissal notices on Friday. "You can see the anger. This is going to take a new dimension."
Seshoka said that while the company was in its "legal rights" to issue the dismissal notices, as the strike was illegal, it was not a constructive move.
"It's like you can't extinguish a fire with petrol. You have to act in a manner that promotes dialogue."
Genuine demands
Seshoka said, although their workers were in the wrong by embarking on an illegal strike, "their demands are genuine".He said the best avenue for negotiations was for the platinum bosses and unions to meet at the Chamber of Mines; as was going to happen on Monday.
Wildcat strikes have raged at Anglo Platinum's Rustenburg mines for three weeks. The company decided to dismiss the workers after disciplinary hearings - which the strikers chose not to attend - were completed.
This Wednesday, workers will have the right to appeal the dismissal.
Seshoka said that Num had not yet made a decision on whether to appeal on its members' behalf, as it first wanted to see what the outcome of Monday's Chamber of mines meeting would be.
Meanwhile, an independent organiser for the mine strikes, Mamatlwe Sebei echoed Seshoka's concerns.
"This strike is a matter of life and death. These [dismissals] unfortunately will only escalate violence."
The workers would not appeal the dismissals, Sebei added.
"They [management] are going to have to reinstate the workers... Amplats is not going to operate without its workers."He said while the possible violence would be "unacceptable", at the moment the miners felt that their dismissals were "like saying to someone who is about to have his head cut off that you must move your hair".
Sebei said he was from a democratic socialist movement which was helping the Amplats miners, who had lost faith in the unions, to organise their strike action.
Hardened resolve
He said, miners had "hardened their resolve to guarantee" that all Anglo Platinum shafts would be on strike by next week.
"We are going to make sure that we bring the whole of Anglo Platinum to its knees."
Sebei said the only solution to the strike was "constructive discussion" around the miners' "simple, modest and legitimate" demand for a minimum wage for everyone of R12 500.
He said in the long term the miners wanted to see the mines nationalised.
"These mines are the property of the people... The companies are just parasites that will never contribute to the development of this country."
Sebei said that since the end of apartheid, living conditions "for the better part, have only got worse... Since the end of apartheid you only see more and more shacks and squatter camps around the mines."
He said, consequently, the miners' stand that they would rather die than stop striking was "not an empty threat".
"Conditions are so unbearable; it doesn't really make a different," said Sebei.
"It's better to die today, fighting with honour, as a soldier dying on the battlefield, than to live in this poverty and suffering as a coward."
- Are you there? Send us your photos.
"It's better to die today, fighting with honour, as a soldier dying on the battlefield, than to live in this poverty and suffering as a coward."
- Are you there? Send us your photos.
Fired miners threaten violence
2012-10-06 13:00
Hundreds of fired miners are converging in Rustenburg, with some miners threatening violence to force Amplats mine management to rehire them.
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