‘NO MORE starving for us and our families!’ elated miners chanted as celebrations broke out across Rustenburg in South Africa, as the country’s longest mining strike ended in victory.
The miners are going back to work today after winning their fight against poverty wages. Over 70,000 AMCU miners had been on strike for 5 months since 23 January.
On Monday night thousands of AMCU members filled the Rustenburg’s Royal Bafokeng Stadium to hear AMCU President Joseph Mathunjwa announce the end of the strike.
Mathunjwa, who during the strike earned the nicknames ‘Gwebi Indlala’ (End Poverty) and ‘Pelepele’ (Chillies), said the deal was a victory for workers across the country.
‘The platinum sector will never be the same. What other unions have failed to do over many years, you have achieved in five months,’ he told cheering workers at the Stadium.
The wage agreement will last for three years and Mathunjwa said Lonmin had agreed to reinstate all 236 essential services staff fired during the strike.
Miners are saying about the struggle: ‘Man, for me it was no longer about me and my colleagues, but also about all the mineworkers before and those that will come long after we are gone.
‘We have levelled the pitch for everyone and we’re excited to have been part of such a historic struggle for better pay and that not even once did we betray our colleagues, not even under extreme financial strain.
‘We can’t wait to return to work on Wednesday after so long’.
The union met platinum producers individually last week to work out details of a deal generally agreed upon earlier in the month.
The agreement should see the two lowest paid categories of employees receiving annual increases of R1,000 per month in basic pay for two years, with R950 after that. The higher-paid categories of workers will get 8% increases for two years, then 7.5%.
Pension fund contributions, overtime, holiday leave and shift allowances will increase in line with inflation. The living-out allowance would remain constant at 2013 levels, which, essentially, allows for the boost in the offer of the basic pay increase.
Mineworkers, in anticipation of the official announcement from their union president that the strike was over and that they had won, began celebrating on Sunday night.
They said that they had been buying tobacco and cheap food for months, but in anticipation of the end of the strike, they were spending the last of what they had.
‘Now we are back to smoking cigarettes and no more buying expired food in tuck shops. We will now eat well inspected food that will not make us sick,’ they said.
As part of the deal in the next month, Amplats will assist struggling workers with food parcels, transport and help with financial advice for employees. AMCU member and Amplats safety officer Madiba Bukhali said he was proud to be a part of the strike.
He said: ‘This day was always going to come. I’m just happy for all my younger colleagues who persevered in the face of immense financial suffering and extreme hunger, but they too can look back at this time and say they have done it.
‘For they have been part of the history that has even claimed many of our colleagues in the Marikana massacre.
‘Everyone can look back at the time and feel great to have been part of the whole process. On Wednesday morning I’m going back to work in what I can describe as a huge relief to all of us.
‘It’s been a gruelling five months, worthwhile but a big achievement for me and my colleagues.’