Force et faiblesse de l'organisation syndicale : le cas du National Union of Mineworkers sud-africain

Abstract

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Marikana: Analysing Miners’ Subjectivity and the Crisis of Representation

“…The argument was marked by the repeated use of the word ‘we’ in their remark: ‘as workers, we decided’. This choice corroborates the assessment made by Botiveau (2013), Buhlunghu (2006), Chinguno (2013) and Hartford (2012) regarding the disconnection between NUM executives (and the South African trade union movement more generally) and their members, which underlined the lack of confidence in the Lonmin majority union.…”

“…According to these authors, the government authorised the police to fire on the workers owing to convergent economic interests. Other papers (Botiveau, 2013; Chinguno, 2013) offer an in-depth analysis of the argument largely relayed in the media, which interpreted the violence as part of a fratricidal conflict between two rival unions: the established official union, the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers); and the AMCU 5 (Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union) which arrived on the scene more recently and which has weakened the NUM. Lastly, other authors (Coleman, 2013; Morris, 2013) endeavour to place this event in a wider post-apartheid context, drawing parallels between this bloody conflict and events occurring under apartheid, and exploring in this light the very nature of the contemporary South African state.…”

“…Each mine negotiates its own conditions, which contributes to the contagion effect. Hartford (2012) sees this as one of the weaknesses of the union system and Botiveau (2013) underlines how this could encourage the corruption of the social partners.…”

From fatalism to mass action to incorporation to neoliberal individualism: worker safety on South African mines, c.1955–2016

“…This provided the legal basis for the health and safety (H&S) representatives and committees previously negotiated beyond statutory legislation in the mining industry and more broadly (see Lichtenstein 2013;Allen 2003). Occurring within a broader political project of 'negotiated transformation' (Botiveau 2014a) under democracy, the industry's safety regime was overhauled and the NUM's organisational safety structures consolidated. The NUM's initial worker-oriented focus, however, was eclipsed as safety became a collaborative effort between mining capital and organised labour under the aegis of the democratic state.…”