Thankfully, the platinum strike has ended, but be braced for more drama ahead.
Inadvertently, AMCU has produced a handbook titled: “How to get a hefty salary hike for your union members”. Rival unions are intensively studying its contents to bargain increases for their members who are now believing they too deserve a ‘decent’ wage.
Prior to the protracted strike, a sluggish economy had taken the sting out of the unions’ zeal to fight for wage increases. But emboldened by the dividends of AMCU’s uncompromising attitude, other unions should now believe they can coerce tighfisted employers to get what they want.
Canvassing for more members, it has emerged, is unions’ core business. And AMCU seems to be the most efficient of all, with the perception that it has impelled ‘stubborn’ platinum mining companies to submit to its demands. Truly, not an easy feat!
presently, the signs do not look encouraging for those who thought the end of the platinum strike signalled the situation had normalised. Transform SA learns, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the country’s biggest union with more than 200 000 members, could down tools from July 1. Analysts fear the timing of the strike could shake the motoring industry and worsen the situation.
I totally concur with you. Mathunjwa has set a precedent for other unions. I bet the NUMSA strike will take place. Other weaker unions will also try to prove they have leverage. I am greatly concerned about our ailing economy.