Topical Opinion - Organising on the mines
- Authors: SAIRR
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: SAIRR
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/111247 , vital:33420
- Description: When the National Union of Mineworkers was formed an experienced unionist said to me "organising workers in South Africa is the art of the possible". But organising workers in the mining industry is the art of the impossible. It has been the art of the impossible because it has been the art of trying to make a fundamental change in a system by using structures and instruments that were designed to perpetuate that system. It lias been the art of the impossible because it has been the art of trying to make a revolution with moderate tools tli at were invented to prevent a revolution. Because of the nature of the mining industry, which is conservative or ultraconservative by any definition, the black miner has been condemned to seek radical ends within a framework which was designed to prevent sudden and radical changes. For almost one hundred years now, black miners have not been able to change their status. The African Miners' Union in 1946 under J B Marks made an attempt but was brutally crushed by a combination of employer and government forces. It is against this background that our union has developed its organising strategies. Organising has taken place around a number of issues, some of which are safety, wages, and working- class unity.
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- Date Issued: 2000
African wages in Grahamstown
- Authors: SAIRR
- Date: Sept 1974
- Subjects: SAIRR
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148563 , vital:38750
- Description: This survey was carried out in November 1973. My grateful thanks are due to the Grahamstown officials of the Cape Midlands Bantu Administration Board for permission to use the records of the Labour Office, and for the assistance given me during the survey. In particular I should like to thank the Area Manager, Mr. Bush, Mr. Freeman, the Manager, Mr. Hall, the Labour Officer, and the Clerks in the Labour Office who gave their help when needed. The aim of the survey was to provide up-to-date information on the basic rates being paid to African employees registered at the Labour Office in Grahamstown. The survey was intended to provide an overall view of wages paid in Grahamstown by various groups of employers, and to give some information on differing wage rates for males and females, and for Africans recruited in Grahamstown and working in other centres.
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- Date Issued: Sept 1974