IT IS TIME FOR SOUTH AFRICANS TO SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH PLATINUM MINE WORKERS ON STRIKE SINCE JANUARY 2014. The average wage for platinum mine workers is R 4 500 (after deductions). The average wage in Australia for an entry level miner is R25 000 (after deductions). South Africa mine workers earn therefore US$ 450 per month, or US$ 15 per day. This for working 8 to 10 hour shifts at a time. Workers are not released from underground unless the meet the set productivity targets for the day. This is a form of absolute surplus value extraction (the lengthening of the working day) that has not been seen in Australia, Canada, North America or Europe since the 19th Century). This sums up the nature of the mining uindustry in South Africa - it is stuck in the 19th Century. By refusing to concede to the demands of workers for a living wage at R12 500, the bosses are behaving like colonial masters out to teach the African natives a lesson. This is the second characteristic of South african mining, it is inherently racist. It care nothing for its labour force, its host country or for thew surrounding communities, it only cares for the interests of its shareholders sitting in London and New York. King Leopold and Cecil Rhodes the arch racist colonialists of the 19th Century would be proud of South African mine bosses. In the mean time the mine workers and their families are starving, resolutely sticking to their demands for a living wage, in the longest mine worker strike in south African history. They are faced not only by a hostile industry and bosses, but also a hostile corporate media and the SABC. IT IS TIME TO SET UP A MINE WORKER SUPPORT FUND SO THAT SOUTH AFRICANS CAN SHOW THEIR SOLIDARITY WITH THIS STRIKE!
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 05:49:16 +0000
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