On August 11, South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) accepted a wage increase of between 6% and 7% for its members employed in the country’s gold mines. More than 100,000 gold mineworkers walked out on August 7. It was the first national strike in the gold sector since 1987. South Africa is the world’s largest gold producer. The workers had demanded a wage increase of 12%, but the mining bosses offered just 5%, despite a massive rise in gold prices. The mainly white union Solidarity also joined the strike. The NUM had also demanded that the big mining conglomerates improve miners’ living conditions. Under apartheid laws, miners were forced to live in all-male barracks, far apart from their families. Around 75% of South Africa’s 200,000 miners still live in these.

From Green Left Weekly, August 17, 2005.
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